Teddy and Family-Chris and Ana the Early years
by Cindra
Summary: My Ana and Chris all those years ago. These are glimpses into their childhood. Fair warning Tissue Alert for the first chapter. You might wanna read Teddy's Day Out or Teddy and Family to understand what happened to Chris in this story. I will be adding to this with stories of them growing up as it's so much fun to write about their antics as kids.
1. Chapter 1-They meet

Teddy and Family-How Chris and Ana met.

By Cindra

A/N: This is just a cute little one shot on how Ana and Chris met all those years ago. Tissue alert.

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL owns the rest.

* * *

Seattle Grace-Oct 31, 1989-Children's burn ward.

Two year old Christian Alexander Grey glared at anyone and everyone except his baby sister and twin Mia Grey. He and his sister had been victims of a horrific arson fire which had cost the two of them everything in their little lives. Most toddlers would be crying and clinging to whatever security was offered to them.

Chris wasn't most toddlers. He was a highly gifted little guy who was cursed with a memory that forced him to never forget virtually anything. But the trauma from the fire had caused that particular gift or curse to glitch giving little or no recall as to what had actually happened to his family. The fire. How he had suffered horrific burns to his back, arms, and legs. Why he was forced to endure hell just to get better again. All of that escaped him. Though, he knew that his Mommy was gone, because the nice Angel had told him so in her gentle voice.

He didn't know if he should be angry, sad, or just numb. He had very little recall of his Mommy, but his baby sister constantly curled up in the bed beside his and cried herself to sleep calling for her. Their Gran. And their GG. It was frustrating him enough to act out at everyone because he didn't know who she was talking about. Yet there was this big ache in his chest and he didn't know why. They told him that he was a brave little guy for protecting his sister from the flames and he didn't remember that either, unless he was asleep which he hated because he dreamed of the fire, but when he woke up couldn't remember anything but the heat from the flames and his sister screaming.

He had undergone more stuff than his little mind could handle, so he just refused to show it after enduring treatment after horrific treatment to make him all better again. He knew that it was working, because he could actually move around again or sit up in bed without being in so much pain. The yucky stuff all over his skin was nearly gone and they had taken the bandages away.

"Chis we go party…" My twin and baby sister sits up her eyes are all bright and she's smiling. "It be fun…"

"You go…" I growl, folding my little arms in defiance. "I not going…"

"Mommy Grace say you go too…" Mia's nearly all better now, but she won't go home unless I can to. "We gets treats…" She thinks that's gonna make me wanna go, but she's wrong.

"So what…" I bury my face in my pillows, so I don't have to look at my happy sister's face.

"Candy!" Mia chants at me. "Candy good! Yummy Candy, Chris!" I lift my head to glare over at her and she jumping up and down on her bed and is gonna get into trouble again. "We dress up too!"

I burrow my face under the pillow to drown her out.

"Who's up for some trick or treating?" I stay buried under my pillow as my older brother Lelliot and Logan, my big brother too even though he's not, invade our hospital room. They're both older than us by a lot.

Lelliot is loud, but he's not bad as brothers go and Logan's really good a magic and stuff. Cary is his Lelliot's Daddy and my new Dad and Jason is Logan's. Cary is a guy who argues about stuff and wins and Jason is a real life GIJOE. Logan's Mommy is Gail and she's nice and makes us yummy stuff because hospital food is yucky.

"Chris no wanna go….but's I's do!" Mia keeps jumping on her bed. I can hear it squeak. "I be princess and get candy!"

"That's right, Mimi. Lots and lots of candy!" Lelliot must be going over and picking her up because she all happy giggles now. "Mom's got your costume all ready, Mia…" He carries her out of the room and I'm left with Logan.

"Not going!" I growl from under the pillow.

"You don't have a choice there, Little C. If your Mommy says you go that's it you go. Besides, it's fun and it gets you some freedom out of this bed." Logan sticks his head under the pillow and I glare at him.

"Fine right here." I sulk, grey eyes stormy and defiant.

"No you're not. What you are little C is really angry and a party is just what you need help make that angry go away." Logan plucks the pillow off of me and holds it up out of my reach.

"Give it back, Logan!" That's not fair! It's my safe place!

"You'll get it back after the party…" He sits the pillow in a chair. "How about we turn up the Turtle Power in here." I glare as he pulls stuff from a bag.

I curl myself up and make myself small under the covers. Touching hurts! "No! Touch!" I whimper and start shaking.

"Easy, Little C. No costume. Got it. How about just the mask?" I peek out from under my covers and he's holding out a ninja turtle mask.

"Touch hurts…No touch…Chris…" I slowly pull back the covers and sit up again.

"I know. I know. Grace said you got the stuff on your owies gone…that your hurts would be a little better." He retreats to the chair beside my bed, after sitting the hat on it. "You have PJ's on and that's touching your owies…"

"They soft…not hurt…me…" I sniffle.

"These are just new PJ's, Little C. Soft. They won't hurt. You." He digs into the bag again and sets the PJ's by the mask.

I touch the PJ's and they feel soft like the Pooh bear ones that Mommy Grace put on me after I got the owie stuff off me. "Leo…" I finger the blue mask of my favorite turtle and pick it up.

"He's your favorite, huh." Logan grins.

I nod, as I check out the mask and try to figure out how it works.

"He's cool. Do ya need a little help, little C?" I figured out how it goes on, but I still have stuff on my hands, and I nod.

"Owie stuff on hands…won't work…" I hold it out to him.

"Yeah, hands take a while to get better." He get's up and I let him put the mask on me. I brace myself, but it doesn't hurt. "That good? Is it hurting you?" He's staring at me now.

I shake my head.

"So far so good now how about just the shirt?" He holds up the PJ top.

I scoot back and hold my new teddy to me. He's new because my other teddy died in the fire, but Daddy Cary says new teddy will help keep scary dreams away. My eyes are wild and I'm starting to breathe really hard. My chest hurts.

"Easy, Easy, no top….Just the mask…breathe, Little C. You're safe." Logan's looking at me like they all do and it makes me mad.

I lash out at him. "Out!"

"Okay, okay, I'm going…just calm down…I'm sorry…!" Logan runs from the room because I am screaming at him to get out.

* * *

I curl up in a ball, making myself small, and cry. For what I don't know, but I want it back so bad that it hurts. I keep crying even when Mommy Grace scoops me up and goes to rock me in her arms

"Shh….easy, sweet boy. Momma's here." Mommy Grace sits down in the rocker by the window and we rock. I just cling to her and cry, because that doesn't make me feel better not today. It doesn't feel right. "You've had a long day. Haven't you." She croons kissing my head.

I nod and continue to cry against her shoulder. "Touch hurt…"

"I know, sweet boy. It hurt because of your owies, but they're nearly all better. Mommy's holding you, baby. Am I hurting you…" She soothes in her gentle voice and I slowly calm down.

I shake my head, because this cuddle doesn't hurt that much and I like the soft touch on my back. I burrow my face against her shoulder.

"Do you PJ's hurt?" She asks again softly.

I shake my head. My PJ's are soft. "No…" I whimper.

"I know that your owies made you think that all touch is going to hurt, but now that they are all better it won't hurt as much. Just feel strange at first. Okay, sweet boy?" She continues to rock me in the rocker.

"Grace?" Someone asks from the doorway. Another Mommy I think. "Gail and I have got the room all set for the party. Is the little guy okay."

"Down…" A tiny little voice demands. "Momma."

"In a little bit…" This Carla person tells them.

"Now…"

Curious I lift my head off Mommy Grace's shoulder and look over at where the voice is coming from. It's a little girl dressed like Pooh Bear and she looks mad. "Who be, Mommy?" I stare up at Mommy Grace and rub my eyes.

"We'll be there in a little while, Carla." Mommy Grace smiles over at this Carla person.

"Mommy?" I frown up at her. "Who be Baby?"

"Momma! Down! Want!" She's really mad now and is trying to wriggle free.

"It's okay, Carla. You can set her down. Chris want's to meet Ana too." Mommy Grace tells Ana's…I guess that's the baby's name…Mommy.

"Down you go, sweet pea." Carla set's her down and she makes a dash towards Mommy and me.

Well, as fast as her little legs let her to make it to Mommy's leg that she's trying really hard to crawl up to get to me. I curl into Mommy Grace's side as she finally manages to make it up to her lap.

"Ana, careful. Chris has owies." Her mommy races over to us.

"Owie…" Ana blinks big blue eyes at me and I nod warily at her, but stay against my Mommy's side. She stares at my owie covered hands. "Sorry…"

"Hi…" I manage warily. "Ana…I'm Chris…"

"Ana…tiss…" She carefully bends down and kisses my hand. "sorry…"

It doesn't hurt, and I stare wide eyed at her.

She kisses them all over. "Mine." She chimes happily and is hugging me.

It doesn't hurt! It feels warm! It feels safe! I like Ana hugs, so I hug her back.

"Mine." Ana snuggles closer and I let her.

"She likes you, Chris. Most of the time she's really shy." Carla smiles down at us.

It's like she thinks I'm her like Teddy, not that I mind. She's making the owies feel better again. "Ana go to party?" I look at the Mommies then down at Ana.

"Yes, sweet boy." Mommy Grace smiles at me.

"Then I go to party too with my Ana." It's like I don't feel that sad ache anymore. Just warm. Ana hugs are good medicine for owies. I know that as long as I have Ana it's gonna be all better again.

* * *

And that's how Chris and Ana met. Hope you like this cute little one shot.

Cin.


	2. Chapter 2-Annie's mission

Teddy and Family-Chris and Ana

Chapter 2- Annie's mission

By Cindra

A/N: Had to change her age to three instead of four to make it work in the next chapter! Here's Ana determined to get to her Chris! This was so much fun to write! Enjoy!

Cin x

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL owns the rest.

* * *

Ana (Three years old)

"But Daddy! I wanna see my Chris!" I stomp my sneakers, because it's been forever! Who cares if he has the itchy spots or not! I can make him all better like when he has dreams. He sounds so yucky over the phone and he misses me too. The dreams are coming back and I can't let that happen. Ever.

"I know you do, sweet pea." Daddy looks up at me from his worktable. He's drawing a new picture for a new boat. "But you can't right now. He contagious and it's only been two days. You'll both live."

"I don't care if he 'tagious or not!" I growl, folding my arms like Mommy does when she's mad at Daddy. It usually works for her.

"That's contagious, Babydoll…." Daddy chuckles at me and goes back to working on his drawing.

"That's what I said! 'tontagious! I had shots! Mommy and Momma Grace say I safe! Let me see my Chris!" I scowl at him and pace Daddy's work place.

"Repeat after me. Contagious, meaning the odds of you getting itchy spots are too high for us to risk. Go find Mommy. She's making monster cookies and you know how you love baking with Mommy. Daddy's on a deadline and has to get this done tonight, so that we can start on building Daddy Cary's new boat." He gives me his don't test me look. I don't care! I had shots! What good they for if they no work! Owies for nothing!

"Contagious…contagious…contagious…Shot's still make me safe! I wanna go see my Chris!" I stop in front of his weird table with my hands on my hips like Mommy! It's gotta work.

Daddy tosses his pencil down and before I can even blink I'm under his arm and carried out to the kitchen. "I know that it's not fair and that the two of you are both missing each other, but trust me you do not want itchy spots. They are not fun. Chris doesn't want you to have them either, so stop asking. It's not gonna be forever." He kisses me on the top of my head and heads back to his office.

"Up you go, baby girl." Mommy scoops me up and sets me on the really high chairs, so that I can see her baking. "Here, stir this for me really good. We're making cookies for Chris and Mia to make them feel better." She sets this big bowl in front of me and hands me a spoon.

"You get see, Chris and Mimi?" I sulk up at her, giving her my big blue eyes and stick my lip out that usually always works to get what I want.

"Yes, baby girl. I've had the chicken pox before, so I can help Grace with Mimi and Chris. We aren't being mean to you, angel face. The shots that you were given didn't work as they were supposed to, but that happens sometime. Chris and Mia are really sick and can't play even if you could see them." Mommy's pouring all the different kinds of chips into the bowl and also good stuff like oats meal and corny flakes.

"He sounded really bad…" I sniffle. Tears usually work too. "He's got bad dreams again…"

"That can happen when you don't feel very well or have a high fever like Chris has…" Mommy nods.

"I's his dreamcatcher…he needs me…" I whimper. Geez, nothing is working! It always works!

"We know and that's why he gets to talk to you on the phone all the time. Baby girl, this is a battle you aren't gonna win so give up." Mommy playfully taps my nose.

We'll see about that.

"Fine…" I blow the bangs out of my eyes that are always in the way and get to work stirring the bowl.

* * *

(Three days later)

What they don't know is that me and Chris watch Logan and Lelliot all the time. I know how to… what was that again…oh, yeah, pick a lock with Mommy's nail thingy. I can climb up and down the rose climbers too without getting all scratchy like they do, cuz I'm tiny. I'm so little that I can fit through Scout's doggie door. Lelliot's got's this big fluffy black doggie. He's so big that I can ride him, so his doggie doors are huge! That and Lelliot and Logan growl about his doody being yucky to clean up! The two of them share him and the 'sponsibility.

It's Friesday. Lelliot and Logan just left, cuz Daddy and Mommy had to works late at ship place for big order. They just gots home, so the boys can make their hot dates. It's all because I can't see Chris that they be late, cuz I gets to stay there if Mommy and Daddy works late.

I thinks that it's time up that he shouldn't be contagious, see I said it right, no more not seeing him. I think that they're just keeping him in bed to be safe. Five days! We gots swim lessons on Satday. He can't miss those.

"Daddy, cans I goes sees Chris yet?" I blink up at him like I'm sleepy and fake a yawn.

"Mia's nearly all better, sweet pea. Chris not so much. He got a really nasty case of the itchy spots, so it's gonna be a little bit longer." He gets me all snuggled into my Ella blue princess canopy bed and hands me my lion to cuddle. Chris gave me it long time ago and I always cuddle it at night-time.

"Can I talks to him?" I whimper between fake yawns. "Please, Daddy?"

"He's sleeping, angel face. He needs lots of sleep to get better." Mommy croons down at me, as she pets my hair.

"Okay…" I yawn, snuggling under the covers

"Bedtime story?" They ask softly.

"Nah-uh… watched Disney movie and played with Scout…" I answer in my best sleepy voice and close my eyes.

"So, that's why he's conked out in front of our fireplace dead to the world …" I can tell that Daddy's shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Lelliot and Logan are gonna get it. Daddy loves Scout though, so he's even got his own Doogie door here at our house and even at Uncle J and Auntie Gail's too. He's like everyone's dog and we love him.

"Yep…we played with the ball a lot…" I yawn again. "Then run on beach…"

"Then he's earned his snooze…" Mommy must be smiling at me. I can hear it in her voice.

"Night…Mommy…Daddy…luvs you…" Maybe saying that will work and they'll go sleep then I go see my Chris!

"Night, precious. Sweet dreams." Mommy kisses my head.

"Night, Sweet pea. Dream of unicorns and rainbows…" Daddy's next.

"We love you…see you in the morning…" The both say softly thinking that I'm out. Turn on my night light and finally leave and close the door. I'm a big girl, so I don't need the door open to sleep. Besides, Logan and Lelliot scared off the monsters when Sam had to watch me, cuz she made them come and search all over for them! Chris was with me too and they even slept on the floor to make sure the monsters were gone. They did it at Chris's too for a whole week before both Chris, Mimi and I were sure they were gone.

Usually I get to sleep with Chris one day and he gets to sleep with me the other, so we can keep his bad dreams away. Five whole days is too many. Chris needs me. So I's got ta try ta go to him.

* * *

(2am)

I wait until the house is really, really, quiet. Then scramble out of bed, put on my sneakers, and head straight to my bathroom. I got this stool to stand on. I think it will reach the hook thingy on the doors to the balcony…I think that's what it's called in my books. First, I take the nail thingy in case I need it, cuz it's locked. I'm not supposed to go out there by myself.

I love my plushy carpet, because it doesn't make noise when I drag the stool over to the doors with curtains on them that match my bed. Drat. It's still too high to reach! I need something to reach it. I look around my room and see my brella, race over to get it, and then race back to my stool and finally the latch thingy moves! It takes me many tries, but the top is unlocked. I try the handles it's locked, so I use the nail thing for what seems like forever! Logan and Lelliot do this so fast! Finally it clicks and I can open the doors!

I'm careful not to make any noise when I open them up wide, so that I can drag the stool over to the wall of the balcony. The wall is high and I need it so that I can climb over it. Then I go and close the doors. I climb up my stool and can just pull myself up so that I can get on the top of the wall. It's really high, but Chris needs me! I look down at the rose climber. It goes all the way to the ground, so I won't have to jump. I'm glad I'm wearing my sneakers. My teddy slippers would fall off. Don't wanna get my feet all scratchy. I think about my robe, but then it'd get all tangled, and I need to hurry.

I as carefully as I can climb down the rose climber and only get scratched a few times when I get to the bottom and then finally the grass. I listen, but it's still really quiet, so I run across the grass to the big tree with the swing on it and then listen again. Still quiet, so I run for the rose fence and it feels like forever to get to it. I scramble through my spot in the rose fence that I can go through without getting all scratchy and then race straight for Scout's doggie door. It's the back door by the kitchen, so I gotta be really quiet. I wiggle through it and I'm in the kitchen! Perfect! It's up the other steps and then I'll have to sneak to Chris's room!

I can hear the TV on in the family room, so Daddy Cary or Momma Grace must still be awake waiting for Lelliot …This is gonna make it tricky, cuz the steps make noise, so I'm gonna have to be really, really, careful. I can hear Daddy Cary growling about Lelliot being two hours late and grounded for life…that's a long, long, time. Like forever! I think he's coming to use the phone in the kitchen so I race up the stairs hoping that I don't make them squeak and I don't.

That was too close, so as soon as I get to the family floor, I race for Chris's door. It's not closed all the way so I open it just enough so that I can get inside. He's coughing and whimpering in his sleep, so I race over to his bed and use the covers to climb up into it.

He's got spots everywhere! He's covered in pink stuff and wearing gloves. I guess so he won't scratch. I'd be scratching like crazy if it were me! Chris whimpers again and I know that he's having a bad dream, so I dive under the covers and curl up right next to him. I'm really, really tired, so I close my eyes and fall asleep.

* * *

(Two hours later)

Carla

I just have a feeling that something isn't right with Ana. She missed Storytime and my baby girl loves her stories. I think she's miffed at us for keeping her away from Chris and doesn't understand. Teddy and Phi both offered to let her stay at their orchard for a bit, but she through a tantrum to end all tantrums when we put her in the car this morning. No Granny or Grandpa T without Chris or Mimi! She screamed until we turned around and not even IHOP would work, so that was a wash.

Gail said that she was brooding all day after that and thought the boys would cheer her up. They brought Scout and put off their dates just to cheer her up. El's at a loss. So is Logan nothing worked. She grudgingly went along with what they were doing and that was that. Jason warned Cary and Ray that Annie being quiet wasn't a good sign.

She seemed all tuckered out when we got her settled in bed, but there is just something eating at me that I have to go check on my baby. I carefully open her door and as soon as I step inside I see that she's out of bed, so I go check the bathroom. She's not there. I check in the closet. Nothing. I'm starting to freak out, so I look under the bed and she's just not here! Someone's taken my baby!

"RAY!" I scream bloody murder as I race out of Ana's room. "CALL 911!"

Ray's racing out of our room with his gun. That's not going to help if someone has already taken our daughter! "WHAT'S WRONG?!"

"ANA'S GONE! SOMEONE'S TAKEN OUR BABY!" I scream frantically at him and race downstairs to see if she's getting a snack or water. Nothing!

Scouts alert and barking up a storm. Lot good you are! Someone got Ana!

"I'm calling T and Cary!" Ray races for the phone. "Keep checking the house!"

Scout and I check the entire house over and there is no Ana to be found.

"She's gone! My baby!" I burst into tears that one of the threats to our family actually came to be. "Taylor's security is crap, Ray!"

"It's not possible! I designed those doors myself! There is no way that anyone could unlatch it from the outside! T's already made the rounds when the silent alarm tripped, but everything was secure. No activity at the gates for this to be a kidnapping!" Ray races outside and I'm on his heels.

"Ray! There is nothing that points to her being taken! Could she be over at Cary's?" Jason's out checking everywhere on the grounds.

"He's checking, but we have to think of it like someone pulled the mother of all fast ones one us!" Ray shouts back.

"How could she! She's Three! There is no way that she could even reach the latch or unlock her doors to the balcony!" I scream at them. "Call the police! Alert our neighborhood watch! Find my Baby!"

"Carla!" Gail races over to me and pulls me into her arms. "Let's go inside. They'll find her. We'll check the whole house from top to bottom. She's tiny. She can fit anywhere and hide and she's upset that she can't visit Chris." She leads me back inside.

"I'm calling the police! My three year old is gone!" I race over to the phone.

* * *

Ray

"Jason! How the hell did they get into her room?!" I snarl at my best friend.

"They can't. Not without trying to break the glass, but that's touch sensitive. I've checked the grounds, even the guest house, and there is no sign of a perp anywhere!" Jason would be pulling his hair out along with me, but our crewcuts make that impossible.

We're standing on the balcony searching for any clue or sign and there is nothing pointing to someone forcing the doors to her room. "Could she have sleepwalked? I mean it's possible and she's tiny enough to wiggle her way out?" I'm grasping at straws and trying to remain in control, but there have been threats lately.

"Let's search the house and grounds again and then we'll take more serious measures."

"I called the police! They're sending a patrol car! They think she wandered off!" Carla's fuming. "She's not here! Searching the house again is a waste of time!"

"I'll contact my guy in the FBI about Ana missing and this being a possible kidnapping…" Jason heads for the phone in my office.

"Ray! Our baby…." Carla's clinging to me.

"She could be wandering the neighborhood. Sleepwalking does run in the family." I try and get her to calm down.

The phone in the kitchen rings. "Steele. Peggy? Yes, Ana's missing. We think she might be sleepwalking…All the help we can get…thank you so much…we'll make here the command center…." I hang up the phone. "Peggy's getting the neighborhood up and searching. We'll find her."

* * *

Logan

What the hell? I'm dropping off El to complete chaos. Something major is up! "Elliot, I think someone's cased the Steele's place. Not that it's possible Dad's security is the best."

"It looked like they were looking for someone. The whole hoods up." He frowns.

"Boys!" Daddy C shouts at us.

"What's going on Dad? The movie was a triple…" El runs over to his dad, seeing as I can't even pull into up the driveway and they have a long drive. There are cop cars everywhere.

"Ana's missing…" His dad starts to explain.

"What the fuck do you mean, little bit is missing?!" We both shout.

"Exactly what I'm telling you! Ana is missing! The neighborhood is all out looking for her. We don't know when she wandered off, but it looks to be a few hours from when Carla found her not in her bed. Jason investigated the silent alarm being tripped at around two and Carla checked on her around four…"

"Did anyone call the FBI?! They deal with kidnapping? I heard dad talking about threats…" I feel numb. Baby sister is either kidnapped or wandering alone!

"Jason has made all of the calls and because this is Raymond Steele's little girl missing a team is already on its way and we have half the SPD here looking." Daddy C growls.

"I'm checking Chris's room!" El ran inside with me after him.

"Elliot, ya gotta chill. Do not wake Chris!" I race up the stairs after him.

"Chris can sleep through anything. He won't even know we're there. Dad gave him his meds and they knock him out." El goes into Chris's room and he's right Chris is sound asleep. We check everywhere and it still doesn't wake him up.

"Well, she wouldn't go to Mimi. She's a monster like Ana to wake up. Let's check the rest of the house." We search it from top to bottom and even risk Mimi's room. Blinded by pink is not fun! Pink to the extreme! Nada no sign of Ana, so we head back outside to check the grounds.

"Guys!" Adam jogs up to me, along with Luke, Ryan, Ren, and my Sam. "All of us just got back from the marathon and we all live nearby one another.

"Ana's really gone?" Sam races into my arms and I hug her to me.

"Looks like." I nod.

"They're saying possible kidnapping or maybe she wandered off…" Adam frowns.

"She's three!" Sam, Luke, Ry, and Ren growl.

"Yeah, but her Dad was saying something to Officer Grayson that sleepwalking runs in the family, so they're thinking that's what happened." Adam's going to be either a cop, black hat, Fed, or black ops. All of us are gonna enlist, but El's wants to study to be an architectural engineer and have his own construction company so he's gonna go to some posh Ivy League university.

"Fuck! She could have wandered down to the beach..." El, Ry, Luke, and Ren head off to search the beach.

"Yeah, don't think Chris is at the beach. She'd wander to Chris." Adam snorts, rolling his eyes. "Has your Dad checked the feed? Or did they all panic and have a brain fart?"

"Dad!" I shout over at where all the uniforms are gathered.

"Son! Kinda busy right now!" He shouts back.

"Did ya check the feed! Adam thinks ya had a brain fart and panicked!" Sam, Adam, and I jog over to them.

"Yes, son, we're going over it again…" He growls. Everyone has got state of the art tech! Dad's using stuff that I've never seen before.

"It was just a thought…" Adam gulps when Dad glares at him.

"Go search with the boys..." He growls.

We bolt for the others. Weekend boot camp is not fun!

* * *

Grace

What in the world is going on at my house! There are police cars lining the street and I could barely get into my own driveway. I see the FBI jackets and instantly panic. Something happened to one of the kids! FBI means kidnapping!

"My babies!" I finally manage to park and am out of my car and headed into the house before Cary can even shout my name.

"Momma…"Christian is standing at the foot of the steps in his Power Ranger PJ's rubbing his eyes with one hand while he has Ana's in his other. "What's going on? Ana got thirsty and woke me up?"

I scoop them both up into my arms and hug them close. "Thank heavens you're alright. I was so worried…" Then it hits me. Ana's here. The FBI and Police. They must be looking for her.

"Grace! I was trying to…" Cary rushes inside and can't believe his eyes. "Ana! Baby girl, you're alright!" He takes her from me and cuddles her close, kissing her head.

"I wanted to see, Chris…" Ana sniffles.

"Oh, sweetie, where were you hiding?" He croons.

"She no hide, Daddy. She was cuddled with me under covers in my bed." Christian's staring at him like he's lost it. "Just like she always does…what's with all the people outside? Are those police? What's FBI?" His eagle eyes take in what's happening from the open doorway.

"I sorry…" Ana turns her head to see what Christian's is talking about. "I wanted to see my Chris!" She bursts into tears.

"It's okay….hush….your safe that's all that matters…let's go see your Mommy and Daddy. They're worried sick about you." Cary carries her outside and is met with shouts and cries that thank god she's safe.

"Mommy, Ana's got spots so why couldn't she stay with me all this time then she not sneak here to me?" Christian's scowl says it all.

"What do you mean, baby boy? Where does Ana have spots?"

"She's got them on her arms, legs, tummy, and some on her face. She was hot and thirsty and woke up itchy too." Christian frowns.

"Oh, dear, it took a little longer for her to show clear signs…"

"That's okay. We can be itchy and spotty together!" Christian's smiling now.

"Ana's been contagious for days…" I set him down on his feet. "Back to bed. I'll be up in a bit."

"With Ana?" He heads up the stairs.

"Not for a little while. Her Mommy and Daddy will want to cuddle her for a bit. She gave them quite a fright." I call after him.

"They fault…" He calls back.

"Christian Alexander!" I shout after him.

"It is! They shoulda let her see me!" He growls from the landing.

"Bed now."

"Just saying!"

* * *

Ana

"My baby!" Mommy races up to Daddy Cary and takes me from him and I hide my head in her shoulder. There are way too many people here!

"Annie!" Daddy's next and I'm squished in between them.

"Pack it up! She's fine!" I hear someone shout.

"Annie!" The boys and Sam all race over to us.

"I'll start on breakfast!" Aunt Gail walks by kisses my head and then goes into Chris's house.

"I'm hot…" I sniffle and cough. "I itchy too."

Daddy checks me over. "Yep, she's got it and it's spreading…"

Momma Grace's checking the boys. "Oh, dear, I've gotta call the school at once…" She runs back into the house.

"Mom?" Lelliot's really confused, but I can see spots on them all.

"You's got's spots too!" I point.

"No!" They groan.

"You've more than likely infected the whole school that's why Grace raced inside." Daddy Cary shakes his head. "Bed now and that means all of you home. Have your parents call your doctors. Adam, take one of the guest rooms that goes for you as well Logan. Marcus can do a house call."

"Later!"

"This bites!" Logan, Lelliot, and Adam stomp into the house.

"I can't be sick! I've got perfect attendance!" Sam stalks off.

"BOYS!" Cary stalks after them.

"Ana, you did not hear that." Daddy growls.

"Okay, Daddy."

"Ray, we're moving the trellis!" Uncle Jason comes over and kisses me on the head.

"My roses…" Mommy frowns.

"She climbed down it, Carla. I've got it all. The entire escape. You little stinker. No more silent alarm for your doors." He shakes his head at me and then goes off to talk to the people everywhere.

"What?!" Mommy cuddles me closer.

"We'll move it over to the other side or try to, but it's gone." Daddy growls.

"Carla? Bring her inside so that I can look her over.

"Can I be with Chris now that I's got spots?" I chime out.

"Ana..."

"Please…"

Anastasia…"

"But I's got's spots too!" I whine.

"Anastasia Rose Steele!"

"Fine!"


	3. Chapter 3- Annie vs Mr Bubble

Teddy and Family-Chris and Ana

Chapter 3- Annie vs Mr. Bubble

By Cindra

A/N: You can really see who Teddy takes after in this one! This was so much fun to write! Enjoy!

I'm working on both this story and Teddy and Family as I'm trying to meet my Camp NaNowriMo goal of 25,000 words! Big shout out to the girls and my Cabin mates in Fifty's Boot Camp! You Rock and are fantastic writers! I'm trying my best to do my part, but this month has not been my friend at all! It's hard to write when you're miserable, but I will prevail!

Cin x

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL owns the rest.

* * *

Ana

(She's turning four and Chris is five)

I don't get why coz Chris is a year older than I am that I have to go to some baby school and he gets to go to one in the big building. I'm just as smart as he is so why can't I go too! It's not fair!

"I wanna go ta Kindy school too!" I stomp across the floor of our treehouse that our Dads designed for us, so that it's built right into the big oaks that shade both our backyards.

"Mom say's that you're too little and that you can't, um, I think it was sign up or something like that…I guess ya gotta be five ta go ta Kindy school and you're still almost four!" He's pulling at his hair again and he looks like he wants to run.

He does that a lot when he gets upset about something. Me. I pout or throw things like plushies, toys, or pillows.

"That's not fair! I can do everything you can, so I wanna go too!" I grab a few plushies and throw them at him before I go throw myself onto the couch.

We have our size chairs and stuff. Chris and me are in the castle. It's got stairs that go up into a naptime place, and then to a sky tower. It has a ball pit with plastic balls that we can jump in. Then there's the art room where we can make stuff. I have a mini library. Then we got's a girl treehouse like a doll house for girl stuff and on the other side is a boy treehouse for boy stuff. Chris calls it a fort. We got's these twisty stairs instead of something we can climb, because our moms worry too much.

Chris's side has the playground stuff attached to it, so we have our own playground too.

"Ana! It's not like I make the rules and stuff! Don't take it out on me!" He dove behind a beanie bag to avoid the plushies.

"Then they need ta change the rules so I can go too!" I scream into the pillows.

"I don't think that's how it works." Chris is poking his head out at me.

"Well it should!" I hiss in determination.

I'm gonna change that rule! I'm on a mission, so I stomp off to go find Chris's Daddy. He's like my other Daddy and I call him Daddy Cary. He's good with law stuff and if anyone can change one it's Chris's Daddy.

"Ana! Where ya going!" Chris yells from behind me, but I'm already down the stairs and running towards the house. "Don't be all mad! I wish you could go too!"

I race by the pool where Lelliot, Logan, and Adam are swimming. It's fenced so that we won't accidently fall in and die or something. Yeah, right, I've been swimming since I was one and I know better than to break the no swimming without adult rule.

The bigger kids don't have to follow it at all and can go swim whenever they want to it's so not fair! Just like a lot of stupid rules that we have that they don't because they're teenagers. Being a little kid sucks!

"Annie! Where's the fire, Babydoll?!" Logan shouts at me.

"What's going on, Princess?" Adam is next to holler at me.

"Chris is going to Kindergarten and she can't so she's been on the warpath." I hear Elliot get out of the pool, the gate opening, and then before my feet even hit the steps to the deck. He scoops me up.

"Put me down!" I screech, kicking and screaming in fury, as he carries me over his shoulder. Heading back to the pool.

I'm not in the mood to swim! I have a rule to change so I can go to Kindy School with my Chris!

"You need to cool it, little bit." He jumps into the deep end of the pool and I instinctively take a breath, close my eyes, and reach up to plug my nose. I hate getting water up my nose it's the worst! I cough and my nose stings!

I wriggle as soon as we hit the water. My foot gets him in the nose, so he's gotta let me go to grab it. He sinks to the bottom while I swim to shallow part so that I can get out easier.

"I didn't wanna get wet!" I growl, as I stalk up the pool steps to get out of the water.

Chris is standing there with a worried look on his face waiting for me with a towel. "Are you okay? He's not pose ta do that coz we're still little and he's big. You got him good with your foot though, so there is that." He wraps me up in the towel.

Logan and Adam are fishing Lelliot out of the water, because I made his nose bleed.

"I'm not sorry!" I glower at Lelliot, not caring that he's coughing and howling over his nose and swallowing all that water. That and he's saying a lot of no-no words. "He had it coming!"

"Nice move, Babydoll!" Logan's howling with laughter.

"Yeah, Princess, I think ya broke his nose!" Adam's snorts between fits of laughter.

Boys are so weird!

"Elliot Johnathan Grey! Language!" Momma Grace is mad. Lelliot's in big, big, trouble.

"Annie broke my nose, mom!" Elliot whines like the voice of the teacher in the Snoopy cartoon.

"What in the world were you thinking!? You deserved what you got for not leaving her alone! Boys, get him inside and I'll see what damage Ana's little foot did to his nose. Chris, Ana, go see Gail. She's got your snack ready in the kitchen."

Chris grabs my hand and we bolt for the kitchen and our snack.

* * *

Aunt Gail sees me all wet dripping all over the kitchen floor and scoops me up, "What happened?"

"Lelliot jumped into the pool with her and Ana broke his nose with her foot." Chris has no problem telling on Lelliot.

"I'm not sorry! I was coming into the house ta see Daddy Cary!" I growl, wrinkling my nose in fury.

"Let's go get you warm, dry, and into some fresh clothes." Aunt Gail kisses the top of my head and then looks down at Chris. "Chris, you need to head up to your room and try on some of your new school clothes to see if I need to hem them or not. I've set them out on your bed."

"Why can't I wear my play clothes…?" Chris mutters under his breath.

"Because that's what all the kids who go to school wear." She informs him as we head to my room. Yep, I have a room here at Chris's house and he and Mia have a room at mine for when our parents have to go away for their jobs and stuff. "You can't wear play clothes until after school, not even Elliot and the rest of the Breakfast club have to follow a dress code. Count yourself lucky that it isn't a uniform. This isn't a chore, little man."

Mia went shopping with Kate and Momma K today and I stayed here because I hate shopping! It's boring! Clothes are clothes! Dresses yuck! Kate and Mia love playing dress up, tea parties, dolls. I don't. Daddy calls me a tomboy because I like to do boy things, but I try and endure girl time with Mia and Kate. Mommy says that I'll grow out of it when I'm older, but I can't see myself being all crazy over shopping or clothes.

"It's a dumb rule! You can learn lots wearing play clothes too!" Chris stalks into his room while we head into the bathroom.

"I'll run you a quick bath while I go see about getting you something to wear." Aunt Gail's one of my godmothers and I love her to pieces, but I'm on a mission to get to go to school with Chris. I can get the pool smell off me later.

"Can't I just change clothes?" I pout up her, blinking soulfully with my big blue eyes. It usually works to get my way, but Aunt Gail's immune.

"Out of those wet clothes and into the tub you go. I'll be in to wash your hair after I get back with your clothes and no adding bubbles to the water." Aunt Gail knows that when I get into a tub that it usually ends up with me flooding the bathroom with bubbles.

I love bubbles when I have to take a bath the more bubbles the happier I am. I sigh heavily and do as I'm told. The second she's out that door and it closes I grab the bottle on the tub, dump it all in, turn the water back on, then flip up the shower thingy because I have to make the bubbles real fast. No bath time unless I get bubbles too!

Boy do I get my bubbles! There are so many that its way above my head and the bubbles are escaping the tub too! Bubbles! Bubbles! And they won't stop! I love it!

I'm laughing, giggling, and sneezing in my bubble paradise. The water's getting really, really, high and I can't find where to turn it off because of all the lovely bubbles!

"Anastasia Rose Steele! You little stinker!" Aunt Gail's back. "I was only gone five minutes! How did you turn on the shower!? You've flooded the floor with water and bubbles!"

I see her hand blindly reaching in front of me to turn off the water and then watch giggling as she swats the bubbles away in search of my giggling self. "No bath without my bubbles!" I splash around in the water.

"Bubbles!" I can hear Chris giggling and laughing.

"I love happy bubbles!" I echo back between fits of giggles while Aunt Gail uses the hand shower thing to make them go away, only it makes more instead.

"Christian, you aren't helping!" Aunt Gail's trying to act cross, but I can hear her giggling too.

"I'll go get Daddy!" Chris races back out of the bathroom.

"No! He's working!" Aunt Gail shouts out after him, but Chris is super fast when he wants to be. "I'll never hear the end of it now…" I hear her mutter to herself.

"Chris! Slow down! What's the big emergency! Did something happen to Gail and Ana?" Daddy Cary's voice is loud like Daddy so we can easily hear him talking to Chris.

"Bubbles! Water everywhere! Tub! Ana! Aunt Gail's trying ta stop them too but they won't stop!" Chris is talking super fast to his Daddy. "Ana's gonna drown in bubbles!"

"Annie's flooded the bathroom again? Thank heavens that it's a wet room so the water will drain quickly. Now the bubbles that's another issue altogether. Drowning in them? How long did she leave her by herself? She knows that our angel loves to add bubbles when you leave her." Daddy Cary doesn't seem mad, so maybe I'm not in trouble.

"It's the middle of the afternoon. Why is she in the tub to begin with?" They're both coming up the stairs.

"Lelliot…"

"Why am I not surprised…"

"Ana's still mad because she can't go ta school with me, coz she's too little still."

"Go on…" I think they're stopping in the hallway.

"I told her that it was coz of some rule, so she went ta go see you so that you can get the rule changed…."

"Is that so…" I hear him chuckle.

"Uh-huh. You are good with law stuff."

"I'll see what I can do…"

Yes! Kindy School here I come!

"Now let's see what she's…"

Silence.

I can't see either of them yet, because the bubbles are still in the way.

"See! Daddy! She's gonna drown in bubbles!" Chris chimes excitedly.

"Oh, dear lord! The entire bottle!?"

Um…maybe I spoke too soon…about him not being mad.

"How long did you leave her?!"

"Five minutes, maybe ten…"

"Gail! You know the rule of thumb when it comes to this little pixie and the bathtub!" He chokes out.

I think he swallowed some bubbles! Oops! Maybe the whole bottle was too much!

"I had to run downstairs and prepare an ice pack for Elliot's nose for after Grace gets finished treating it." Aunt Gail sneezes out.

"What happened to Elliot's nose?" He coughs out.

"Lelliot grabbed Ana and then jumped into the pool with her and then she hit him in the nose with her foot. Now Lelliot's got a broke nose. She was all wet and stuff and that's why she's in the tub." Christian's sneezing as he tries to tell his Daddy what happened.

"I'm not sorry! I didn't wanna get wet! He grabbed me! I wanted ta ask you ta get the rule changed so I can go ta Kindy school with my Chris!" I chime out between sneezes, as the bubbles tickle my nose.

"Is that so…Elliot and I are gonna have words, but first we need to deal with your little mischief with the tub. We'll need a few industrial quality wet dry vacuums to tackle this monster or I might just call in a service…In the meantime, get her out of there if you can find her and finish her bath. All of those bubbles can't be good if she inhales them. Thank heavens, it's a no tears formulation or she wouldn't be giggling like a naughty little imp right now…"

"Anastasia Rose! The whole bottle!?" Yikes! Momma Grace isn't helping Elliot's nose anymore. That's her mommy voice.

"Did the princess flood the bathroom again?" Adam shouts from downstairs.

"So that's why Mom raced back upstairs! She left Annie in the tub!" Logan's next.

"And we're missing it!? Where's the video camera!" Lelliot still sounds so weird and no cameras! "This is AFV gold!"

"It's in the den! Bring the camera too!" Momma Grace calls down the stairs. "Carla and Ray will want to see this when they get home and it'll look adorable on the family wall."

"Take Chris. I'm going to go call in a crew to clean up Bubble Armageddon or it'll take forever for us to tackle this monster. Then I'm going to call up the school and convince them to allow Ana to start with Chris or this is just the beginning of her acting out." I can just barely see him set Chris in his Mommy's arms, because Aunt Gail's got the bubbles so that you can now just barely see my head.

"Smile for the camera, Annie!" Lelliot's got the video thingy.

"Are you in there somewhere, Pixie?" Logan's got the camera. "There you are. I can see your head."

"God this is so adorable. I'd laugh but then I'd probably choke to death." Adam smirks.

"Mia!" I hear Daddy Cary shout from downstairs. "Get back here!"

"I wanna know why Chris is thinking about bubbles!" She shouts back as she races up the stairs.

"I love bubbles!" I giggle out.

"Bubbles are fun!" Chris giggles too.

"A bubble party! Move!" Mia wiggles between the boys and then happily dives right in.

"I wanna play too, Mommy!" Chris is wiggling in his Mommy's arms.

"Let him down, Mom. Grandpa and Grandma T will love this." Elliot grins.

"Down you go, baby boy. Just for a little while. Okay you three?"

"Bubbles!" The three of us giggle.

"We'll watch them. Mom, you might wanna go get her swimsuit so that she doesn't turn into a prune." Logan's reading my mind and the waters getting cold.

Aunt Gail scoops me up in a towel and carries me out of the bathroom. "We'll be right back. Don't let them hurt themselves on that slippery floor."

"I'll make sure of it." Adam dives in to be the watcher while Logan and Lelliot use the camera and the video thingy.

It doesn't take any time at all for me to race back into bubble paradise and all the fun. Momma Grace and Aunt Gail leave our big brothers to watch us. Lelliot and Logan has the camera set up so that they can play too.

We're having so much fun that we don't even notice that Daddy Cary is standing there with a man that I know. That's Mr. Manny! He comes to my house lots of times. He's who Daddy calls when there's too much water and it needs cleaned up. He does bubbles too with this big hose that's so big I can crawl into it that sucks up all the bubbles and water and they go away. Where they go don't ask me. Bubble Heaven?

"Baby girl! What did you get yourself into now?" Mr. Manny's eyes are so big and his mouth is open wide like a fish as he stares at us.

"Hi! Mr. Manny!" I race over and hug his leg.

"The Pixie strikes again!" One of the men in blue chuckles.

"Pay up! I told ya it was worse than last time!" Another one is just grinning at us, both of them are holding onto the end of that big hose.

"I thought we talked about this. Bottles and water are a no touch thing for you." Mr. Manny scoops me up and then gives my nose a tap.

"Aunt Gail was giving me a bath. No bubbles. No bath." I stick my lip out in a pout.

"That's only during bath time, angel face." Daddy Cary is shaking his head at me. "Gail was just getting the chlorine off of you that's why no bubbles."

"Daddy, a bath is a bath." Chris rolls his eyes up at him.

"Bath time playtime is right before bed. Anything else is just to get the two of you clean as quickly as possible." Daddy Cary scoops up Chris.

"Daddy! Can we make this our bubble room now?" Mia zooms over and hugs his leg.

"Afraid not, baby girl. Mr. Manny and his crew are here to make your bubble fantasy disappear so that we can have a working bathroom again."

"But we're making bubble animals and people!" Mia wails and as per her usual she bursts into tears.

"Think of it as when you make snow people and animals. Sorry, sweetheart, but the bubbles all of them have to go." He's scoops her up in his other arm and she buries her head against his chest.

"Snow stays way longer than bubbles. They pop and then go poof." I chime in.

"Poof?" Mia sulks looking up at her Daddy and then over at me.

"Poof?" I nod making a motion with my hands.

"Yep! They go pop! Then are all gone!" Chris mirrors me.

"Kids! Come downstairs! We've made some bubble solution and set up a bubble station for you, so that you can blow bubbles yourselves!" Momma Grace calls up the stairs.

"Bubbles!" The three of us grin at one another.

"Down you go, baby girl." Mr. Manny sets me down and gives my butt a little pat. "And please try not to flood anymore bathrooms with water or bubbles. Three times is the charm. We don't need to aim for a fourth."

"I'll try, Mr. Manny." I giggle and zoom off to go have some more fun making bubbles.

"Wait for us!" Chris and Mia shout. "Down please, Daddy."

"Change into swim suits and out of your good clothes first then you can go blow bubbles to your little hearts content." I hear him tell them as I carefully make my way down the stairs. It's hard to go down them, coz the hose is there and it's huge.

"Yay! Bubbles!" I hear Mia and Chris zoom off to their rooms.

* * *

We're sitting around eating lunch when Daddy Cary gets up to answer the doorbell. I'm so happy eating my mac and cheese and fries that I don't notice when he comes right behind my chair and tells the lady in this really bright purple dress with ugly big flowers that I'm the little wiz she's going to be testing.

Testing? I'm taking a test? Why am I taking a test? Is coz I wanna be with Chris and the others in Kindy school? Is that it? Did they have to take a test too? Not that I care. I can pass any test that Chris can easy.

"Ana? Why are you taking a test with Miss. Mana? I had ta take one. It was sooo boring, but I passed it and got stickers too." Chris asks between bites of Mac and Cheese.

"Like I know?" I shrug my shoulders, and roll my eyes. "I wanna go to school with you so guess I have ta take the test too. Boring really? I thought it's a special school for smart kids. Why'd they give a boring test?

"I guess they wanna know how good we're at stuff. If we can read. Write. Know letters and numbers. Stuff like that." Chris shrugs too and rolls his eyes. "She just stared at me when I told her that the book she wanted me ta read was baby stuff. I could read Tom Sawyer. I can add stuff and subtract. Know all my letters and numbers and she was like staring at my test. But she was nice too."

"I don't know why, cuz we've taken lots."

"Remember the one...Junior Mens?" Chris asks me as he goes for the cookies on the table.

"Yeah, that one was a challenge for us and sooo not boring. And we got's ta be on a list too!" I nod.

That test made my head hurt when it was done. I mean, why do ya have to prove that you're smart anyway? You either are or you're not. You don't need an endless test. You just know. Reading. Writing. Math. All of that comes easy for Chris, Mia, and me, coz once we hear it or see it we never forget it.

Lelliot calls it cheating, coz he can't do what we can, but it's just our gift. It's not like Luke, Ryan, and Ren can do what we can either.

Lelliot can build, draw, and stuff. He helped build our tree-houses. Logan, Sam, and Adam can do what we can too or something like it. I guess that's why he feels so left out. The other boys don't have any problem with it though, just Lelliot.

"Chris, I want you and Ana to come with me to my study. But you aren't allowed to do anything but sit quietly in your chair while Miss Mana gives Ana her evaluation tests to see if she can go to kindergarten with all of you or not." Daddy Cary's gonna let him come with us! Good! I won't get all shy and nervous.

"Can I finish my cookie first? I'll be quiet. She's gonna roll her eyes when she sees it though. It's not even gonna take her the end time ta finish. Can we just skip Kindy school and go to first grade?" Chris asks between bites of his cookie.

"You're in an advanced class and are going to be with your friends, so that should make you somewhat happy. Kiddo." Daddy Cary chuckles. "You can bring the cookie with you."

"I just wanna be able ta go with Chris ta school. If it's boring that's fine. I can always bring my book. I'm reading Charlotte's Webb and Chris's reading Treasure Island. We can read books, right?"

"You're reading Charlotte's Webb?" Miss Mana is just staring at me like I have two heads or something.

"I can read lots of books." I nod.

"She can count, write her name, words, lots of stuff…we're not babies." Chris snorts, rolling his eyes at her.

"Christian." Uh-oh! Daddy Cary doesn't like eye rolling. It's not polite, but we can't help ourselves sometimes. Like now.

"Sorry, Daddy. We're smart. We have good memories. We don't forget anything. It's a pain. Too. Coz it includes bad dreams too." Chris shoves the cookie in his mouth really fast so we can go. I'm done with mine and am already on my feet next to Daddy Cary and Miss Mana.

"We took that Mens test and got on a list. Didn't that mean we were smart?" I give them my confused and sulky face and fold my arms for the right effect.

"Is she talking about Junior Mensa?" Miss Mana's eyes are so huge it's like looking at one of those cartoons with the big eyes. "She's not even four yet?"

"She's almost four!" Chris frowns at her.

I have to show Miss Mana that I'm smart like Chris so I try and figure out how many days till my Birthday to show her that I can do math and get it right too.

"I'll be four in ten days?" I look up at Daddy Cary to see if I'm right.

"Yes, sweetie, you're birthday is ten days away." He bends down to kiss the top of my head.

"I did math in my head but not sure if I got it right or not. And I did!" I squeal happily beaming with happiness that I didn't mess up in front of Miss Mana. I mean how many nearly four year-olds can do math! That's gotta show her that I'm smart and can go to Kindy School with my Chris!

Miss Mana's still in shock as we head towards Daddy Cary's study. She's holding her bag to her really tightly against her chest like someone's gonna take it and that's just silly no one here is a thief. Daddy Cary is a lawer. Momma Grace is a Healer. Aunt Gail's a nurture. Uncle Jason is a protector but he's with Mommy and Daddy at the apple place coz they got new design for big ships that someone wants. Uncle Jason guards them from the baddies.

Maybe, she's guarding my test? Why? I haven't even got to take it yet? I don't have ray vision like Superman or Supergirl?

I wrinkle my nose as I give her what Lelliot calls my listening look that can make anyone spill the beans. Spill the beans? That means talk or tell the truth when you don't want to. These adult sayings are confusing. Why don't they just say what they mean instead of something silly like that? I guess when you get older you gotta learn a whole new language to talk and stuff? I'll stick with being a kid.

"Miss Mana? Daddy Cary is a lawer, so you don't have ta worry about guarding your stuff so much and I don't have ray vison like in the picture books that Lelliot and the boys like to read so I can't tell what's on the test in there."

"Anastasia Rose, you and your imagination." Daddy Cary chuckles, as he puts my booster seat from the kitchen onto one of the chairs that's in front of a round table in his office that's got more chairs by it. Then he scoops me up and sets me down so that I can reach the top of the table.

Our big brothers call me little bit, coz I'm tiny compared to them. Chris, Mimi, and me are like three feets and they're all like six feets or more! It hurts your neck to look up so high, so I don't mind all that much when they scoop me up and carry me around or on their shoulders. Sam, Ros, and Gwen. Our big sisters are all tall too, not as tall as the boys that would be weird. Sorry if I'm spacing out, but Miss Mana's taking forever to give me this test.

"Ana's already taken the WPPSI and I faxed the results to you this afternoon. In truth Miss Mana the only factor keeping her from attending with my little ones is her age. Chris and Ana are both in the top twenty percentile on the Junior Mensa list. Giving her another test is frankly a waste of both of our times. You have one slot still open in their class and Ana deserves it. Your school is for gifted youngsters and you won't find one more gifted than Annie Steele." Daddy Cary got his serious face on.

"Oh, I took that when I was two almost three. It was easy." I will myself not to roll my eyes at her. If that's the test that I'm gonna be taking then Kindy School here I come! "The Mens one was hard in spots, but then that's the point right? To…um…challenge our minds? Or was it to see how smart we are?"

"A little of both, sweet pea." Daddy Cary's got his proud face on.

"It's just a formality to see where you're intellectual abilities are at this point in time." She's snapped out of her shock and is smiling at me now. She's pretty. Not the dress though. It's so bright and those flowers hurt my eyes!

Mimi and Kate would say that it's couture. Momma K that's Kate's mommy, she designs clothes and stuff some of it is crazy looking like Miss Mana's dress.

"I don't care if it's my way into Kindy School then test away!" I've got my focused face on to show that I really want this really bad.

Daddy Cary's office phone rings and he reaches over on his desk to answer it. "Carrick Grey. Hi Ray. How's the big city? You and Carla got my message? Yes, she's one determined little pixie. I agree that's why I arranged for Miss Mana to come evaluate her today. Oh, she's already showing her how bright she is. One moment and I'll let you talk to Miss Mana." He gives the phone to Miss Mana so she can talk to my daddy.

"Hello, Mr. Steele. She's an amazing little girl. Yes, Mr. Grey called on behalf of you and your wife. I have all of her previous tests given to me by Mr. Grey…Gifts to the school are always welcome…Like I was telling your little one, the test that I am about to give her is merely a formality just to see where she stands academically… I was made aware of her standing on Junior Mensa. It's very impressive. Top twenty in the country at nearly four…"

"Um, I was four. Ana was almost three…" Chris pipes up from his spot by the wall of books.

"I'm sorry. I have been corrected by Christian. It was almost three when she took the Junior Mensa…Yes, the two of them are quite the little team…ever sense they were what?" Her eyebrows go way up into her hair, but then she's smiling at something else that Daddy's telling her. "Well, we can't have them separated now can we…" She winks at me and then at Chris.

"Um…she'd be mad all the time like forever, so please let her come with me to Kindy school!" Chris's giving her his puppy dog look.

Daddy Cary and Miss Mana laugh.

"I'm not kidding! She'll be really, really, really, mad if you keep us apart!" He growls, crossing his arms.

"Yes, Mr. Steele, that was Christian…You are so right…He's quite the champion…Now that I have your permission to proceed I'll give Anastasia…"

"Ana. Anastasia is her naughty name. I don't mind Christian or Chris, but she just likes Ana or Annie if she really likes you." Chris corrects her before I can.

"Then Ana it will be and hopefully before long I can earn the right to call her Annie." Miss Mana grins at Chris then winks at me.

"You can call me Anastasia, Ana, or Annie if you get me into Kindy School…" I shoot Chris a cool it glare and he rolls his eyes at me.

"It was lovely talking with you, Mr. Steele…I'll be sure to tell Mrs. Carver to call you about your wishing to give a generous gift to our school…Not that it should be necessary, as she's a little marvel and would be a welcome addition to our student body…I'm going to let Mr. Grey chat with you while I focus on testing her…Actually, we have had four year-olds attend before. There's a little wiz Barney Sullivan who won't be five until December…Like I've been trying to convey to the little ones and the two of you…this is a formality…Mrs. Carver herself sent me her to evaluate and interview Ana and allowed me to decide if she's mature enough to attend my class or not. She also wants this test done to show where we need to place her as we do with all incoming students…You, too, Mr. Steele…Here's Mr. Grey…Have a lovely evening." She hands the phone back to Daddy Cary and then goes to sit in one of the chairs at the big table and gets out the stuff for my test.

"I'll call you back as soon as they're all done. Yes, she'll want to tell you and Carla herself." Daddy Cary chuckles. "I just needed Jason to give me the number of Mr. Manny's service…She did and yes it was…the kids had the time of their lives until he got there…Bubble Armageddon…Elliot was trying to cool off her temper by jumping with her into the pool. She wasn't having it and broke his nose with her little foot…Gail went to get her fresh clothes, but got called away downstairs to prepare an ice pack for Elliot's nose…not even ten minutes and an entire bottle of Mr. Bubble…little imp turned on the shower…it wasn't positioned correctly over the tub…you guessed it water and bubbles everywhere…the drain couldn't even keep up…about an hour or so with his crew to get it straightened away…Elliot got video and Logan took pictures…El wants to submit it to AFV…Carla's where? School shopping for Annie? She left as soon as you got my message? True…she'd have to be dragged kicking and screaming otherwise… glad that the symposium wasn't a waste of time... Talk to you in a bit, Ray. Bye." He hangs up the phone and then goes to sit behind his desk to read this really big book on it.

I hear Chris sighing behind me. He's bored with nothing to do.

I glance over at Daddy Cary. He put the book away and is getting out coloring stuff and putting it on his big desk. Chris loves to draw, so he won't be bored while I take this easy test.

"Chris, let's you and me draw something for Mommy while Ana takes her test." He calls Chris over to him and he races over to go sit on his lap.

It's a little while later and I'm done. Miss Mana's checking it over and she's smiling. She's getting out stickers too! Chris got stickers after he took his test! They're smile faces and she puts lots on this sheet that she's writing on! Kindy School here I come! It's the only thing I want for my Birthday to go to school with my Chris!

"Well, Miss Ana Steele." She hands me the paper with the stickers on it. Let me be the first to welcome you to Kindergarten and I am looking forward to having you and Christian in my class this year." She holds out her hand and I know what to do! I take it in mine and shake it a lot! I get to go to Kindy School!

"I did it!" I squeal happily and bounce in my chair.

"You did! With flying colors!" She nods, still smiling at me.

"Chris! Daddy Cary! I did it!" I scramble out of my chair and race over to them.

"Yes! Happy Ana is back! No more sad face! No more frowns! No more throwing toys at me! No growling! No yelling! Just my happy Ana again!" Chris shouts out happily and both Daddy Cary and Miss Mana laugh as we hug each other and jump up and down.

"Happy that I could help get Happy Ana back!" Miss Mana grins at us and we go and give her legs a hug.

"We all are happy to have our happy Annie back again." Daddy Cary's all smiles too.

"We gotta go tell Mommy, Aunt Gail, Mia, Lelliot, Logan, and Adam!" Chris races to the big doors of the study, opens one, and zooms off without me.

"Thank you, Miss Mana! I got my birthday wish early!" I don't forget my manners, always thank someone who helps you. "You can call me Annie too if you want to."

"You are very welcome, Annie." She's got her stuff back in her bag and is getting ready to go, but she left something for Daddy Cary on his desk. "I'll see you both in class. Enjoy your last few days before school starts. "

"I'll see you out." Daddy Cary scoops me up and follows Miss Mana out of the study and we head for the front doors. "Thank you for doing this for us."

You can hear Chris excitedly talking to Aunt Gail and Momma Grace in the kitchen. Mimi's gone crazy happy too and I can hear her screaming the news to our big brothers outside at the pool.

"It was truly my pleasure." Miss Mana shakes his hand and then she's off to her car.

She drives Herby! That's so cool!

"Let's go call your Daddy and tell him the good news." Daddy Cary kisses my nose and I giggle. "We have another Kindergärtner in the house."

Yay! Kindy School here I come!

* * *

Next Chapter will be the First Day of Kindy Schoo and the formation of the Scooby Gang.


	4. Chapter 4- Scooby gang is formed

Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 4- Scooby gang is formed

By Cindra

A/N: First Day of Kindy School! Like the title of this chapter says. The Scooby Gang is formed.

This has been one crazy busy summer! The last half of July I've been crazy busy attending symposiums for work. This month I'm attending a month long retreat with my sisters. While it's a fantastic Zen atmosphere, it's also hard as hell to sneak off and reconnect with the outside world! Well that and my reoccurring chronic illness has been kicking my ass since July and tech still hates me! So cross your fingers that this update works!

Love all of your favs/follows/and reviews! They make me smile!

Now on a sourer note as I have managed to attract a few unwanted cowardly trolls…here is my message to you regarding all of my stories.

 **To all Guest Troll cowardly creatures who don't have the courage to log in or create an account...nothing you post effects me or my will to continue with a story. In fact it makes me wish to write even more that** **MY STORIES** **threaten you so much! I've been writing on this site for seventeen years and have learned that what you, say, feel, or even think means nothing to me. Rule of thumb for any writer when it comes to creatures like you...is to simply hit delete each and every time because you and your words, issues, thoughts, feelings, and opinions don't matter and never will!**

Any and all mistakes area all mine! Enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL owns the rest.

OoooO

Chris

Today we get to start Kindy School and I'm really excited because Ana gets to go with us too! Ana's been so happy to be going with us that she's been all smiles and giggles for days!

So much better than grouchy, angry, sulky, growly, frowny, Ana!

Daddy says that we're gonna make lots of new friends and that we'll learn a lot.

"Chris, Mia, Elliot, time for breakfast! You don't want to be late on your first day of school." Mom calls us from downstairs.

Mia stomps past me down the stairs! Mimi is so not a morning person. Neither is my Ana, but she's too happy to even let getting up this early bother her.

I follow her into the kitchen and scramble up onto my chair at the kitchen island. Gail is making breakfast and its yummy pancakes and blueberry syrup. I'll try my best not to get my new clothes dirty when I eat them. Mia's still pouting being up so early and chooses to have cereal instead.

Lelliot stumbles blindly into the kitchen and heads for coffee. Even when I'm older I will never drink that yucky brown drink. It's gross! Lelliot's not really pose to drink it and gets his fingers swatted by Aunt Gail. Nope, it's OJ just like me and Mimi. He grumbles as he plops down next to me and eats his breakfast. He reminds me of a wild animal sometimes when he eats. Now you see it then it's gone.

"I've got practice tonight! I'll be home for dinner!" He tells Mommy, between his last bites of breakfast. He kisses each of us on the head. "Don't get into too much trouble your first day, midget. Mimi, it's not gonna work so enough with the waterworks! Get used to waking up early, because the older you get the earlier they force you to wake up. Mom and Dad aren't gonna cave because you're not a morning person. Annie's a beast in the morning, but I bet she's jumping around like a little bean raring to go."

Mimi's down to sniffles now, but she's glaring at everyone still.

"Straight home after practice! It's a school night! You just got your license! Homework first! You know the rules!" Dad calls after Elliot, as he grabs his jacket, gives Mom and Gail each a kiss on the cheek then heads for the garage.

"Yeah, I know the drill by heart!" He calls back. "Laters!"

We have little backpacks, snacks, and stuff that they told Mommy that we'd need. A nap matt who knew that you get to take a nap in school? Not me. How can you learn anything when you're sleeping? It makes no sense to me. We only get to go for half a day. It's confusing cuz Elliot has to go all day, but then I don't really know a lot about school as this is my first day. We all went to Tiny Tots, but I guess this is more than that I'll find out when our Mommy drops us off at school.

Mia's starting to cry again and I don't think that it's because she's scared at all. She's not going to get her way and when she doesn't she cries a lot. Dad kisses the two of us on the head and goes off to work. Uncle Jason's gonna pick us up when it's time for us to come home. Mommy is gonna take us now because she has to work when we need to get picked up. She's a doctor and works to make kids all better again at this big hospital.

She's my angel. She made Mia and Me all better when we were hurt really bad. I don't wanna think about that though. Nope, all I wanna think about is what school is gonna be like. Ana's going to be taken there by her Mommy, but I know that she's excited about this as much as I am. Then she gets to come home with us.

I bet that she's driving her Mommy and daddy crazy too. I miss her. We usually ride to school together at least that was when we went to Tiny Tots.

The front door flies open and Ana races in with her Mommy giving chase. "Anastasia Rose Steele! I said the car not Grey Manor!"

"I wanted to see my Chris!" She's hugging me so hard that I can't really breathe. It's a Mimi hug. She's so excited that she's full of energy.

"Ana…" I wheeze. "Can't…breathe…"

"Oops…" She bites down on her lip, big blue eyes wide. "Sorry! I'm just so excited about Kindy school!" She let's me go, but she's far from calm and turns her sights on Mia. "Mimi! No tears! It's gonna be fun!"

"But I'm tired!" Mia whines. "Why's Kindy School so early?"

"So we can learn lots and lots of stuff!" Ana hugs her until Mia hugs her back. "No tears! It's gonna be fine! You've got Chris, Me, Kate, Ethan, and we're gonna meet even more today at school!"

"Sweetie, this first week will just be all of you getting to know one another, your school, and your teacher. You're going to have so much fun learning that you'll be excited to get up every morning, you'll see." Mommy's giving her a pep talk too.

I think its working, coz Mia's calm enough to see that Ana's wearing a dress, tights, and her sneakers. "Ana's wearing a dress that Kate and me got her!" She's all but screaming it to the world and hugging Ana.

"She's a girl, Mimi." I roll my eyes, but it's really weird to see Ana in a dress. It doesn't happen. "Girls wear dresses."

She's even got her hair all braided nice too and not her normal pigtails. Momma Carla must have promised her a super yummy snack, coz Ana loves her long hair, but hates messing with it. Her hair is like crazy long to her waist with lots and lots of curls, but she always puts it into pigtails to keep it out of the way.

"Mommy begged me and I'm in too good of a mood to fight her, so yeah, I'm wearing a dress. I had to sit through like forever getting my hair brushed, braided, and pretty. I was gonna just keep it down with a hair thingy, but it kept getting all in my face, so she braided it." Ana's getting all red in the face and looking at her bright blue sneakers.

"Kate! You! Me! All match! I'm in pink! Kate's in Red! Annie's in blue! Almost, I gotta go run and change into my sneakers too! Mommy! Can you call Kate's Mommy and tell her to put sneakers on, so we match? Please! With gumdrops and lollipops on top!" She's excitedly jumping up and down. Her eyes doing that melt to what I want look that nearly always lets her get her way. She, Kate, and Ana all have that one mastered.

"I'll try, baby girl." Mommy hurries over to the phone and Mia zooms to go change into her bright pink sneakers.

I cross my fingers and toes that she hasn't left or Mimi will start sulking all over again. "Don't be like that, Ana. We're all kinda sorta dressed up for our first day. You won't be the only ones in dresses that's for sure. I mean, all that's missing with what I got on is a tie, but there's no way that I'm gonna wear a stupid tie to school." I try to cheer her up and give her a hug.

"At least you get to wear jeans and not those funny shorts that you sometimes gotta wear to church and stuff, so you're lucky." Ana lets me go to see what I've been forced to wear to school then whispers in my ear. "And don't even mention the tie or our Mommies are gonna go all crazy and make you wear one just because you'll look cute in it."

"Chris! You left the tie on your bed and you wanna look good for school too!" My traitor twin comes zooming back in her hot pink sparkly sneakers with my grey tie in her fist. "Momma Carla! Chris forgot his tie! Could you put it on him please?"

"Told ya so…" Ana takes the tie from Mia before her Momma can even answer my traitorous twin. She looks at it then at me all sympathetic like and clips the stupid thing onto my shirt. "It's easier just to give in…like what Lelliot and the boys say all the time 'Resistance is futile'."

"Christian you look so handsome all dressed up for school!" Aunt Gail's got a camera and is taking pictures. "Let's get some with all three of you together."

Mia, Ana, and me all pose for what seems like endless pictures and then to make it even worse we've got video too. Weren't the pictures enough for them?

All three of them are looking at us with tears like we're going away forever too. Isn't Uncle Jason gonna come get us? I thought school was a good thing, but they look so sad. Adults are so weird.

Ana looks at me and then at our Mommies and Aunt Gail and bites her lip. "We are coming back home, right? I mean, Uncle J is gonna come get us from school and everything?" She whimpers next to me.

"I think they're happy…" I frown at our Moms and Aunt because they really don't seem like it. They seem really sad.

"If we can't come back home then I'm not going to stupid school!" Mia's back to crying again and races over to cling to our Mommy's leg in terror.

Ana's just clinging to me like I am to her.

"No! Babies! We're just sad that you're growing up so fast!" Our Mommies are staring at us in alarm that we're thinking that we're not coming back.

I mean Mommy didn't cry when Lelliot left for school. Daddy didn't cry at all he was smiling when he told us to have a good day and learn lots of things. It's so confusing how tears can mean so many things instead of just one.

"Then we still get to come home?" The three of us are so confused.

"Yes, darlings. No one is sending you away forever. School is just part of the day and then we'll always be there to collect you afterward." Mommy's in soothe mode and so is Momma Carla.

The big granddad clock chimes and our mothers go crazy. "Oh, my stars! You're going to be late! Let's go, you three!"

Ana's already wearing her backpack that's got her stuff in it, but we're not and we scramble into them. Aunt Gail hands me my Power Rangers lunch box and Mimi her Barbie one that got our snacks in them. Can't leave without our snacks. We'd starve to death.

"Wait is Kate wearing sneakers! We have to match!" Mia's back to that again no more tears.

"Yes, she's wearing her sneakers, now does everyone have their things?" Mommy looks us over.

"Um, Ana doesn't gots her snacks. She needs her snacks too." I'll share if I have to, but we're all pose to have one. It was on our list of stuff.

"Did someone forget her Garfield lunch box?" Daddy Ray is standing in the doorway holding up Ana's snacks and she races over to him.

Good. She won't starve now! Gotta have snacks to keep you going! Ya just gotta! It's a rule!

"Thanks, hon." Momma Carla smiles and goes over to him.

"Let's get our little pixie to school, as it is we'll be lucky to get there on time." He's got Ana in his arms.

"Guess, I gotta go with Daddy and Mommy. I'll see you there." Ana shouts as they leave.

"Let's go, darlings." Mommy takes Mimi's hand and then mine and we head for the garage. "It's a whole new world for you to discover today and you're going to meet new friends and have fun."

OoooO

We get there and there are a bunch of Mommies and Daddies with their kids all lined up in front of the doors to this big building with lots of windows.

Was Daddy pose to come too? There are an awful lot of Daddies here. I can see Kate and Ethan with their Mommy, but their Daddy's not there so maybe it's okay that Daddy didn't come too. Ana's Daddy's here, but then he and her Mommy work in the same place so maybe that's why?

I see Miss Mana talking to Daddy Ray and she's wearing a dress with flowers on it again, but this one's nice and doesn't hurt your eyes.

"Let's go start your big adventure into learning." Mommy's smiling at us as we walk over to where everyone is all starting to line up by the doors.

"Kate! Ana!" Mia squeals, as soon as she spots them. "See Mommy! We match!"

"I see that, darling girl." Mommy laughs. Mia was so against going and now she can't wait and is dragging us to them. "Looks like Ethan and some of the other boys are wearing ties too, baby boy."

"Chris!" Ethan's waving at me and I wave back. "Ya, gotta, meet Barney! His dad makes planes! And his Mommy makes stuff for computers! Jose! His Dad draws and builds stuff and his mom decorates them. And Paul! His Dad's a CEO of his own company like my dad and his Mom's a nurse."

The boy wearing glasses, with curly hair like mine only his is black not red, is getting all red faced and staring at his sneakers. Jose's got black hair and Paul's blonde like Ethan. They're all wearing a tie, shirt, Jeans, and sneakers just like me and Ethan.

"Really!?" Now that's what I call a job! Making airplanes! I wanna be a pilot and fly them and copters too! But being CEO like Daddy Ray or Papa K isn't bad either. Ros wants to be important like a CEO too and spends lots of time with either Papa K or Daddy Ray learning stuff. Our other big brothers and Sam wanna fight the bad guys and that's not bad either. "Be right there!"

His Mommy gets to work with Computers! Jose's dad and Mom are what Lelliot and Gwen wanna be. Paul's Mommy's a healer like Mommy, only she's a helper of doctors and his Dad's a CEO. They all have important jobs! Mine do too! Mommy's a Doctor and Daddy's a Lawer!

"Slow down, little man. You too, little miss. They're not going anywhere." Mommy's not about to let go of our hands.

"Grace!" Ethan's Mommy Victoria, Momma K, to us smiles at our Mom and they do this air kiss thing that's weird, but a lot of grownups do it. Then she reaches down and scoops us both up for a hug and kiss on the cheek then sets us back down. "Chris, Mimi, you look precious! Are you both ready for your big day?"

We both nod our heads a lot. We're waiting for the signal that we can go see our friends, even if they are like right there.

Mia's never one to wait for anything. "Can we go see Kate, Ana, and Ethan now?" She pouts up at them with big grey-blue eyes and her strawberry blonde ringlets bouncing around her face. Mia's never liked long hair, but it's long enough so that she's got a headband that's pink and sparkly in it. Mimi's big on the sparkly stuff.

Mommy scoops us up one at a time and gives us a squeeze and a kiss. "Run along to your friends. Have fun. Meet new friends. I can't wait to hear all about your first day when you get home. Love you, my darlings."

We hug and kiss her back. "Love you too, Mommy!" And that's all it takes for us to zoom over to our friends while Mommy and Momma K goes to talk to the other parents and Miss Mana.

OoooO

"Barney! Jose! Paul! This is Christian! We call him Chris!" Ethan's grinning at the boys beside him.

"Hi!" I smile. He seems kinda shy, but Ethan and I will cure him of that when he gets to know us. Now the other two don't seem shy at all.

"Hi!" Jose and Paul grin back.

"Hello…" Barney's shuffling his feet, yep shy.

"So, your Mom works with Computers? We have one at home that's for the family and then Daddy has one just for his law stuff in his study. Then we have a Nintendo, Super Nintendo, and a Genesis. They're all my big brother Lelliot's, but we get to play games on them too. Oh, and Gameboys. I wanted to bring mine, but Mommy said that's just for home so I couldn't. Jose, your Mommy and Daddy do what my big brother and big sister want to do. Building and desigining things that's neat. Paul's Mom helps healers make people get better and his dad's a big boss. Your parents have awesome jobs. "

Barney's eyes light up and he starts talking all about operating systems and his Mom being on a team that makes systems so that computers can work. About his Uncle who works for the people who are making something called a PlayStation. His family are all into computers and stuff and his Dad designs top secret airplanes and passenger planes too. He wants to be a computer programmer when he gets big. "What's your Mommy and Daddy do?"

"My Daddy's a lawer and my Mommy's a Doctor she makes little kids who are really sick or hurt all better again. She's like an angel. I wanna fly planes and copters when I get big and maybe build ships like Ana's Daddy does." I proudly answer him. "Daddy is more than just a lawer, but right now I can't think of what it's called. He works with the Justice people sometimes and when he does then he can't talk about it and men and suits come to our house. I think he defends people, but not baddies even though they come and ask him. My Daddy's a champion for justice or something like that I think. He also helps big companies with law stuff too."

"I know your Mommy. She made me better when I had trouble breathing this summer and she's still my doctor. You're lucky that she's your Mommy. Wow, and your Daddy gets to go defend people at that big courthouse that's cool." He's smiles shyly.

"You're Mommy's Doctor Grace?" Paul's looking over at my Mommy.

"Yep, that's my Mommy right over there." I nod.

"She's like the best doctor at the hospital where my mom works. You're so lucky to have her for a Mom." Paul's in awe of my Mom. A lot of people are.

"Chris, is gonna be a CEO just like Ethan's and My Daddy are when he gets big, but flying's nice too. Mia's not sure yet what she wants to do, but it'll be something to do with clothes maybe like Momma K. I'm gonna write stories or read them coz I love books. Kate and Ethan's gonna be a reporters for their Daddy. Jose and Paul not sure yet. But Barney that's easy anything with computers." Ana chimes in as the girls join us. "Chris, Ethan, Barney, Jose, Paul, meet Andrea and Hannah. We just met, so I don't know what they wanna be yet. "

"Hi," Andrea's blonde with blue eyes and Hanah's got light brown hair with green eyes and they both smile shyly at us.

"Hi," We smile back.

"I wanna be a doctor just like Chris and Mia's Mom." Paul declares.

"I love to draw stuff like my parents, so I'll probably do that…" Jose's next.

"Um, I like to read a lot like Annie, so I'm gonna do something that lets me do that like my Mom. She's an editor and my Daddy's a DA sort of like Chris's dad, but he works for the city and puts baddies away." Hannah shyly starts talking.

"My Dad's the CEO of his company they do taxes and stuff for big companies and my mom helps keep him organized. They're a team." Andrea's very sure of herself.

"Steele Shipping it's like been in our family for a really long time. Daddy runs it as CEO and My Mommy's the CFO. He builds ships of all kinds and Mommy makes sure that stuff all stays in balance or something. Just never in the red that's bad. But for some reason being in the black is good. They're a team too. It's neat that all of us have awesome parents." Ana's all happy smiles and believe me that's a good thing.

The bell rings and Miss Mana reads our names off her list and we get a sticker with our name on it to put on our clothes and then go over to line up beside her in front of the big blue open doors. There's fifteen of us, so it should be easy to remember all the names. But something tells me that our little group are gonna be best friends for a long, long time. This is just the start of our adventures together.

OoooO

I hope that made you smile! The next Chapter of Teddy and Family will be up soon and that has a bit of drama but this was all smiles and a few giggles.

Cin XOXO


	5. Chapter 5-The Intruder

.

Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 5-The intruder

By Cindra

A/N: Baby TJ is on the way and Ana isn't all that happy about it. He's a surprise. Everyone is calling the soon to be new arrival Ray and Carla's little miracle. A title that for nine years has been Ana's. She's feeling threatened and nothing anyone is saying to her is getting through.

Any and all mistakes area all mine! Enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL James owns the rest. (I love to play with her characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

OoOo

Ana

Chris is packing for his scout camping trip that's boys only and listening to me vent about the unwanted addition to my family. My parents are going to saddle me with a sibling!

"Did I ask for a sibling? Did I want one!? No! I like having them to myself! Why did they wanna rock the boat by adding another mouth to feed and be responsible for!? I mean, truth be told the two of them are uber busy people! How are they gonna handle taking care of a rugrat when they barely have enough time for me! What's that gonna do to my quality time?!" I seethe in frustration.

Chris stops rolling his sleeping bag to shoot me his 'not this again' exasperated look. "Ana, there is nothing that you can do about it. You are getting a baby brother or sister whether you like it or not. It is not a choice that you get to make."

"Now that's where I disagree. There should have been a family discussion." I throw myself onto his bed on top of his neatly folded clothes, sending them flying everywhere, and scream into his pillows.

"Damn it, Anastasia Rose! Now I have to start all over again!" Chris shouts at me and starts picking up his stuff from the floor. "What part of miracle baby do you not get?! They didn't plan your sibling! It just happened! Get over it!"

"I'm their miracle baby!" I screech and hit him in the face with a pillow. "They didn't need to replace me with a newer model!"

"What are you five!?" He glares at me like I'm an alien or in need of the funny farm. "Did you not pay any attention in Health class?! Do you not comprehend all of those endless books that you love to read!? Seriously, Anastasia, if you're gonna throw a snit and attack me with my pillows for being the voice a reason then go HOME!"

What the hell?! Is he kicking me out!? He's supposed to be on my side!?

"Because you aren't listening to me! I'm being replaced! They've missed soccer games because baby appointments clashed with them! Dad's the assistant coach! When we earned our black belt last week, were they there?! No! She forced me to take ballet all these years and never missed one recital, but now none of my activities matter anymore! They're always so focused on baby this and baby that! They've missed everything! "

"Becoming a big sister does not mean that your parents are replacing you! Two games. Your mom had a scare and they were at the hospital when we earned our belts and the same thing happened right before your recital!" Chris stalks over to his door and throws it open. "You've been hanging around Mimi and Kate too much! Creating endless drama over nothing! Call me when you've come back to your senses!"

"Fine!" I scramble off his bed sending the rest of his stuff flying, not that I give a damn! He's abandoning me in my hour of need! "Be on Team Rugrat! Abandon me when I need you the most! It's clear that you don't care that my parents are sending me away when it's born! Don't bother visiting me either! I mean, they've already given it my room and moved me to the guest bedroom at then end of the hall! It's no surprise that the next step is shipping me off to my grandparents while the little creature gets the run of my house!" I stalk passed him in a full blown snit.

"They are not shipping you off! Your new room is twice as big as your old one and it's far enough from the nursery so that the baby won't keep you awake at night! What is so wrong about going to see your Grandparents? You love the farm and are right next door to Grandma and Grandpa T's orchard! You clearly don't want to bond with the baby, so they're giving you the space that you are screaming for until you finally get it into your stubborn little mind that being a big sister is not the end of the world!" He glowers down at me and I glare back up at him. He's had a growth spurt so he's taller than me while I'm stuck at five feet nothing.

"You'll be so sorry when I'm gone! Not that you even care about me anymore! That's fine with me! I don't need you! I'll figure it all out on my own! You and I are done!" I scream at him, willing myself not to burst into tears and then stalk down the hallway to the top of the stairs. Turning to glare icy blue eyes at him and shouting out one final shot his way before stalking down the stairs. "I hope you come down with a nasty case of poison oak, ivy, and sumac!"

"Ana!" I can hear him shout after me. "I didn't! It's not that I don't…"

He made his position crystal clear and I don't want anything to do with him at all! I run blindly across the lawn and scramble through my spot in the rose hedges back home.

OoOo

"Ana…" Daddy's trying to figure out why I've dragged out my suitcase and am throwing all my stuff into it instead of enough for a weekend at my GG's farm. "Why are you packing up your closet? It's only for the weekend, not forever."

I stalk past him and into the hall closet to drag out another case. "I'm keeping stuff there for when you ship me off and replace me with miracle baby! It's not like Chris cares either! He kicked me out of his room and told me to stop being a drama queen! So we're done! Not that you care about what's happening with me anymore!"

"Look, I get that you're feeling left out and that we've had to miss some of…"

"Some of my stuff!? Dad! You've missed everything, because the baby comes first and it's not even born yet! Soccer which you co-coach! Me earning a black belt! My first recital en point! My gymnastics meet! If I wanna go to the movies or out for ice-cream then it's with Mimi or with Kate and their parents! Months of stuff! Missed because baby comes first! I get that Mom has had a few scares and fine that's understandable, but the rest!? You both don't care about anything that happens with me anymore!" I toss am arm load of stuff into the case and stalk to my drawers for more.

Dad scoops me up and tosses me over his shoulder. "Family meeting! You are not being replaced or disowned!"

"Put me down! I need to finish packing my stuff!" I squirm then squeal when it earns me a smack on the butt. "Owie! I'm just making it easier for you and mom to focus on the baby! It's all you and Mom care about anyway! I've spent more time over at Mimi's or Kate's than I have here! Because you don't love me anymore!"

"Ray? What one earth is wrong with Ana?" Mom comes out of my former room to see what's going on?

"He won't let me pack!" I grumble, trying to wriggle free, and he swats me again. "Fine! We'll have your meaningless family meeting and then I'll finish packing for Grandma and Grandpa's! It's not like you're gonna miss me when I'm gone!"

"Gone?!" Mom's staring at Dad like I've lost my marbles. "You're spending the weekend at the farm with the rest of the girls while the boys are off camping. You love spending time on Grandma and Grandpa Lamb's farm." She's absently rubbing her massive belly. I'm not kidding this kid is gonna be a beast! She's looks like she swallowed half a basketball and has months to go!

"Annie's feeling abandoned because we've missed some of her events…" Dad gives mom the short version of my rant and she bursts into tears, which has dad torn between placating Mom or letting me down to bolt back to my room and pack.

"I'm a terrible mother!" She sobs against Dad's shoulder. He's still got me, but has his other arm around Mom. "We've missed so much and now she hates us!"

"The baby comes first over everything and it's like I don't matter to you anymore." I start to tear up too, because the last thing that I wanted was to make my mom cry. "Even Chris is on Team Baby. He called me a diva and kicked me out until I come to my senses, so we're done."

"We are not done!" Chris shouts from downstairs. "I was trying to get you to see reason and you went mental again!"

"Go away!" I shout.

"No! Grow up!" He stalks up the stairs with his stuff. "Mom got called to the hospital. Dad got a call and has to go to DC again. Lelliot's at Stanford. T went with Dad and Gail just left to take care of her sister. Camping got canceled. I'll be in my room. Mimi's over at Kate and Ethan's" He heads off to his room.

"Just drop your gear and then head downstairs." Ray calls after him.

"Fine, but she's being a stubborn little diva and I don't think even a family talk is gonna shake her out of it. In her defense though, you have missed a lot of stuff, so I do get why she's thinking what she's thinking. I know it's not true, but I do get why." He disappears into his room.

"We're over there being any danger of losing this little one, so it's gonna get better, baby girl. I promise." Now that has me kinda freaked out a little. What did Mom mean by danger? Losing the intruder? I'm nine they need to tell me these things!

"You know. If you would just stop treating me like a little kid and actually talk to me about what's going on instead then I wouldn't feel like I do now. You miss stuff or are changing stuff in the house for the baby, so then you try and make up for it by spoiling me with stuff. Like having Gwen design my room and not with no budget. My old playroom is getting transformed into a gaming and computer nirvana. The new my size sailboat that's in the boathouse is fantastic, but then you don't have the time for teaching me so Daddy Cary has been teaching me and Chris instead. I get that you think that I need to keep active and busy, but what's the point if you're not there to watch me achieve those goals…" Daddy has me so that he's holding me instead of carrying me like a fire hose and we're locking eyes.

"Like it or not, you little pixie are still a little kid whether you think you are or not." He kisses me on my nose. "And because of that your Mom and I feel the need to shelter you from anything that's going to worry or upset you."

"Yeah, not really working, Daddy. I feel like an outsider in my own house. You and mom are so focused on the intruder that you forget that your first miracle needs you too. I'm not Mia or Kate, so all of these things mean nothing to me if I don't get to have quality Daddy or Mommy time to go with them." I wrinkle my nose and pout at him.

"If you don't know how to explain to Ana what's going on with Momma C then why didn't you just ask my Mom? I mean that's what she does and she's the best doctor in the universe." Chris pipes up from behind us.

"I already asked Momma Grace all about it and she sat me down and showed me a book with pictures of what the intruder looks like inside Momma's belly. She didn't say anything about Momma being in danger or losing the intruder in any of our talks. Just that it takes lots of Mommy's energy and stuff like that…" I narrow my eyes at my Daddy and growl. "What's wrong with mommy?"

"Nothing is that matter with me, Babydoll." Mommy croons soothingly and reaches up to stroke my hair. "I just had to be really careful for a few months and that meant seeing the doctor more to make sure that me and your little brother…"

"The intruder that's taken over my life is a boy?" My eyes pop wide at the news.

"Ana being a big brother or sister is a really big deal. You get to protect them, love them, and teach them stuff. I protect Mimi all the time. Help her with Math. And I love her lots…" Chris once again tries his how fantastic it is to be the older sibling speech on me again and I shrug.

"You're what? Five whole minutes older than Mimi?" I snort, rolling my eyes.

"So, I'm still older than she is making me her big brother whether she likes it or not." Chris grins. "You've got it even better than I do its like Lelliot when Mimi and I were little."

"How do you even know it's a boy? You can't tell anything from those pictures that you get from the doctor's." I'm still far from convinced that the bean shape in those pictures now looks like a person like in the book.

"Your mom and I have something to show you that might make this transition easier on you and no it's not one of those printed out photos either." All of us head downstairs, I guess to see what the intruder looks like now. Maybe they got something in color this time?

Sitting on the coffee table is Daddy's laptop and I'm wondering what that has to do with seeing my Baby brother. Then I spy the DVD+R disk sitting next to it and I can just make out what's written on it Baby Steele 15 weeks scan. "They gave you a home movie of the intruder?!" I gape up at Daddy and he's grinning at me.

"Ana…he's not an intruder…" Mom plucks me out of his arms for a cuddle and the intruder kicks me causing me to jump out of her arms, cling to Chris, and glare down at her belly.

"It kicked me in the hinny!" I growl in outrage.

"Well, maybe you were squishing him and he didn't like it and told ya so?" Chris shrugs. "Or ya woke him up and he's as grouchy as you are when someone dares wake you from your beauty sleep."

Dad and Mom are trying so hard not to burst out laughing, knowing that it will incense me even more. "Or he's just saying hello and responding to your voice. He's been kicking and doing summersaults ever since he heard his big sister's voice." Mom's soothingly rubbing her belly.

"You're fine, sweet pea. You and Chris come sit by our feet." Daddy motions for us to join them in front of the coffee table.

"Fine, but getting kick in the hinny isn't cool at all!" I grumble, folding my arms, as we sit down at their feet.

"Neither is getting squished," Chris counters in the intruder's defense and I stick out my tongue, cross my eyes, and blow him a raspberry.

Just when Chris is gonna tug hard on my braid for sassing him with my sassy face, dad growls, "Ana, that's not nice. Tell him you're sorry. Chris, don't even think of it."

"Anymore of that and we won't be going out to IHOP for dinner tonight and if you're really good maybe even ice-cream." Mom narrows her eyes at us and uses her mom voice.

"Sorry, Christian…" I huff.

"Its fine, Anastasia." Chris reaches over and gives my shoulders a squeeze. "I get it. I'm team TJ and you don't like it."

"TJ?" I frown.

"Yeah," Chris points to the disk on the table. "That's what it says on the disk TJ Steele."

"The intruder has a name already?"

"Your baby brother, not the intruder has a name." Daddy corrects me, as he goes about booting up the disk on his laptop. "Say it with me, Anastasia. Baby brother."

"Fine. Baby brother…holy crap!" My eyes bug out of my head when Daddy plays what's on the disk.

"Anastasia Rose! Language!" Mom growls.

Chris is staring bug eyed at it too with his mouth open. "I'm with Ana all the way on that…wow!"

"He went from a blip, to a bean, to this alien looking creature, to…that?! And in just a few weeks! He looks like the baby in the book that Momma Grace gave me…he's a boy, alright! He waved at you and now he's sucking his thumb! Can we have a party and show everyone this?! This is so worth you ditching my stuff if it meant keeping TJ and Mom safe." It's so cool and he's starting to really look like Daddy a lot and he's got months to go.

"If that's what you want, baby girl." Mom's all smiles now that the crisis is over.

"That's unless you wanna surprise everyone, but that's a big secret for even Chris and I to keep. Maybe, just the family? We can have a blue cake, a box with blue balloons in it, or maybe hand out blue teddy bears?" I chatter excitedly.

Now that I can see an actual miniature human, I can see why Daddy and Mom were so careful and had to miss so much stuff. "Would you like that TJ? There will be lots of yummy cake." I croon to Mom's tummy and he kicks, making me giggle. "Can Chris feel this too? It's so cool!"

"Of course he can." Mom motions for him and Chris eagerly goes over to feel TJ doing circles inside my Mom.

"I think that he really likes your voice, because he's doing flips in there." Chris is as awed by this as I am. "Hey, TJ, I may not be your official big brother, but I can be your honorary one and that's just as good. I'll help Ana watch over you and teach you lots of cool stuff." That got a kick and Chris was grinning at me. "He likes my voice too."

"You're family, son. And are going to make a fantastic big brother, just as Ana is gonna make a wonderful big sister to our little Taylor Jason." Dad reaches out to ruffle Chris's hair and then Mom kisses his head.

"Uncle J is gonna do flips!" We grin.

"It's a surprise until we have the party that Ana wants…" Dad gives us a look.

"We won't tell." Chris and I both make the motion like we're zipping our lips. "Promise."

"Good. Now, both of you go set Ana's room to rights and then we'll be ready to go to IHOP in an hour."

"You trashed your room too?" Chris rolls his eyes, as he pulls me up to my feet.

"Anastasia Steele, did you trash Christian's room?" Mom narrows her eyes at me.

"Define trashed?" I bite my lip, trying not to look in hers or Dad's eyes.

"Ana…" Dad growls.

"Well, he had all of his stuff on his bed for his camping trip and when I threw myself on it things may or may not have gone flying everywhere…" I say all of that at lightning speed.

"It's fine. She was in a temper…no harm, no foul…" Chris hastily tries to get me out of trouble. "It wasn't like trashed…trashed…nothing got broken or anything like that…"

"Ana, you and Chris go over and fix his room now or no IHOP." Mom orders.

"Yeah, about that I kinda fixed it already," Chris scrubs at the back of his neck. "It wasn't really all that bad…"

"Well, then Ana will just have to do your chores for an entire month and then write me a ten page essay on manners and why it's not nice to take out her temper on other peoples things."

"A whole month?! And an essay!? Ten pages?!" I exclaim in protest.

"Want me to add grounded to that list?" Dad narrows his eyes at me.

"But! He does yardwork! The trash is so heavy too! Are we gonna be eating over at Chris's for a Month? He washes dishes or sets the table? Am I gonna be running back from his house to ours? Can't I just bake him cookies or something instead…I'll still write the essay…" I try to negotiate my sentence and add my big blue eyed puppy look for good measure, as it usually works.

"Anastasia Rose…"

Chris grabs my hand and starts dragging me out of the living room. "Cool it or you'll end up grounded for a month." He hisses.

"How about just the dishes and table?! The Essay! And I bake him cookies?" I call back.

"That's fine with me!" Chris stops us just outside the living room and calls back to negotiate and just to make sure that I don't make it worse he puts his hand over my mouth to shut me up. "She's too small to really do the yardwork and Dad won't go for it. She didn't really do any harm to my stuff, so maybe just a week of the dishes and table, the essay, and baking me triple chocolate, peanut butter fudge, monster cookies is more than a fair punishment? I mean, it was my room that got tossed…"

"We will agree to your appeal, Councilor Grey…" Dad calls back, highly amused by Chris's defense.

"One hour. We'll be up to check your progress and decide if we're still going out or not." Mom echoes after him.

"One hour. Got it!" Chris answers back.

"Ana?"

I glower up at Chris and he reluctantly removes his hand, "Got it, Mom! One hour!" I wriggle out of his hold and stalk towards the stairs. "That was not cool, Christian!" I hiss as we head upstairs.

"You were making it worse!" He hisses back. "Besides, it worked and I got your sentence lowered. Stop hissing at me and let's go tackle your room, so that we can go to IHOP! Oh, and you're welcome!"


	6. Chapter 6- The Stinger

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Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 6- The Stinger

A/N: It's the first day of Summer vacation. Ana's taking full advantage of her parents exhausted states do to the arrival of baby TJ! This time she's in the mood to take a ride in 'The Stinger' Elliot's customized go-cart. Adam mentioned this in the last chapter of Teddy and Family and this is part one of that...

All mistakes are mine...enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. EL James owns the rest. (I love to play with her characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

* * *

Ana

The only plus about having a newborn baby brother in the house is that my parents are walking zombies and will agree to just about anything I ask for or wish to do. They're so brain fried from lack of sleep that it's a miracle that they even know that I'm here half the time.

TJ doesn't sleep! He screams to ear-shattering decibels! He's hungry like every three hours! He poops out toxic waste. Seriously! It's uber-gross and like don't even get me started on the smell! To make it even worse! He pees on you when you change him! He pukes on you when you burp him more often than not and my parents think it's adorable!

Yes, he's super cute and adorable with his big blue eyes and cute little mouth staring wide-eyed in awe at you. He makes those cute baby coos and gurgling noises and loves to cuddle up against your chest when he's sleeping in your arms.

I love him to pieces and would tear anyone in half who hurts him or makes him cry. It's what a big sister does and I will not shirk on my duty like ever.

I just wish that I could walk around my house and not have to be quiet as a mouse all the time. A pin could drop in a room where TJ is sleeping and he'll wake up screaming in angry protest. I can't even play my music in my soundproof room because the vibrations will wake him up. He is so sensitive to everything around him.

He adores Chris to pieces. I'm not kidding! TJ will be wailing at the top of his lungs and Chris walks in and he stops and starts cooing and kicking his feet! He's like the baby whisperer! It takes us walking him, rocking him, singing to him, and cooing to him to get him to stop sometimes. The tiniest thing spooks the little guy, but if Chris is holding him he's fine. Looking at everything in wonder. I'm surprised that Mom and Dad aren't developing a complex, but then again they're just happy that he's not screaming. I guess.

I know that he's it siblings wise because having him was way too dangerous for Mom and she was in the hospital for a month before she even had him. TJ is a miracle baby and we're just happy that he's here and both him and mom are fine.

Everyone reassures me that newborns eventually grow out of the sensitive phase. I nod to humor them, but I don't hold out any hope that it's gonna change anytime soon. We're nearly three months in and so far I barely see a change. Then again I've been crazy busy with school and my after school extracurriculars that I haven't really been able to observe any changes and when I do get baby duty nothing seems to change.

Today is the first day of Summer Vacation! And it's actually sunny outside! Gail and Taylor are off visiting Logan at some top secret location, so there's no one really to watch me. I'm nine it's not like I need or want a babysitter. Besides, my parents are both here on paternity and maternity leave so it's not like I'm alone at home all day either!

Wait! That's what you'd think, right? Wrong! My parents are both walking zombies and as long as I go through the motions of following Gail's instructions by heating up the breakfast, lunch, and dinner meals that she packed the fridge and freezer with to feed us while she's gone...I can pretty much get away with eating anything I want when I want! That's as long as Momma Grace doesn't have mercy on my parents and sends me over there to eat. Which more often than not is a lot, so I take full advantage of eating dessert for breakfast, lunch, and dinner whenever I can!

Hot fudge cake! Ice Cream Sundaes! Cookies! The sky is the limit! Gail set me up sweets wise! So I may or may not have had my fingers and toes crossed when I promised her not to overindulge and eat healthy meals and snacks. I go for like every two days or so just so I don't get caught by the parentals.

I made Chris pinkie swear on his life not to tell anyone when he walked in on me eating my version of that Cookie cereal that kids love. In my defense, I crumbled Gail's Oatmeal raisin cookies into a bowl and added milk!

Hey, I could have chosen the Monster cookies with all that chocolate candy goodness, but I didn't! So, don't judge me on my version of a bowl of oatmeal with raisins! It's better than trying to cook pancakes, eggs, or bacon risking the smoke alarm going off and waking up the poop monster and my parents.

Then again...If I get caught they'll probably make me eat all of my veggies even the ones that I hate for the rest of my adolescence! Well, at least until I turn like eighteen then they can't boss me around, I'll be an adult with actual rights and everything!

Elliot and Adam are both home.

Adam because he's getting better after something really bad happened on one of his super crazy top secret missions so he's staying at Grey Manor.

Elliot just graduated from Harvard with a Masters in building stuff. I know the title, but it's long and my head hurts because TJ is screaming for Mom to feed him again.

Ros and Gwen graduated too with their Masters. She's got this really important job doing mergers at some huge company James-Walker and something I think it is. Again it's super crazy long. Gwen's gonna be working with Elliot designing homes and buildings and stuff.

Luke, Ryan, Ren, and Logan are all off doing top secret stuff that we can never know about. Adam is their team leader, but he's hurt so I guess Logan gets to boss them all around now. All except for Sam. She gets to wear one of those FBI jackets and gets to solve and investigate all sorts of illegal activities. She was supposed to go to the police academy because her Dad's a Captain on the force, but that's way better if you ask me.

Anyway, last weekend Elliot and Adam were both charged with keeping all of us out of trouble and took us all to the movies. Usually, Daddy asks what movie, but this time he just said not too much junk and have fun. We got to see _The Matrix!_ That's like an R movie and because they charmed the ticket girl we all saw it! Then because it was right after we got to see _Star Wars Episode One_! That's like PG13! Our parents know nothing! We got IHOP after for dinner then went out for ice cream! It was fantastic!

I almost forgot something even better! They let me keep the orphan baby squirrel that Chris and I found after a major storm that we had. We named him Peppy and he lives in his own little condo in the tree-house that El helped us make for him. He is so cute and is Chris's shadow the second that he steps outside. He can't stand the noise the screaming poop monster makes, so he sticks to Chris's for now. We took him to the rescue center, but because of the storm, they couldn't take him. We were given instructions on how to take care of him and they checked him over to make sure he didn't have any bad sickness that could harm any of us. Then that was it we took him back home and El designed him his own squirrel heaven. Because he's so young he's really trusting and doesn't bite or anything.

* * *

So here I sit at the Breakfast Bar finishing my version of cereal while I try to ignore the screaming poop monster upstairs. My mind on what I wanna do today. The first day of freedom until September.

"Mom sent me over to bring you breakfast..." Chris walks in with a big picnic basket and sets it on the breakfast bar.

It's not fair that I'm five nothing right now and he's shot up to like five eight at least! He's ten! He's gonna be like really tall when he's done growing and I'll be this tiny thing that has to stare up at him just to look at his face!

"I'm nearly finished." I point at my bowl.

"Yeah, that's not breakfast and you'll be out of fuel before it's time for lunch." He narrows his eyes at my cookie and milk creation.

"It's oatmeal and raisin and both are good for me foods." I roll my eyes at him. "I even added fruit to it and have a glass of OJ."

"You do know that Uncle J has eyes everywhere and it's gonna come back to bite you in the butt, right?" He points to several places around the kitchen where the hidden cameras are placed then at my bowl. "Is it worth being sentenced to no dessert ever?"

"They're on vacation. How's he gonna know?" I roll my eyes, he's underestimating my genius. Barney is crazy good too, but he's got nothing on me.

"Uncle J knows all. You know this. So why take the risk?" Chris starts unpacking the basket and setting containers onto the counter.

"I looped the security footage..." I smirk when Chris gapes at me like I've lost my mind.

"You hacked Uncle J's system!?" He hisses at me, not wanting me to get into major trouble.

"It wasn't hard and it's not like I'm doing anything wrong, not really..." I shrug, it was a challenge to loop the footage, but then I love a good challenge. "My next target is El's pride and joy, now that he's gotten it out of storage again."

"Dad's got it in the garage with his car collection. Uncle J upgraded the security system with new tech, even Barney's scratching his head over, and you think you can override it?" Chris snorts at me, rolling his eyes at my latest insane plan.

I grin wickedly at him, wiggling my eyebrows. "We love a good challenge."

"Oh, no..." Chris narrows his stormy pewter gray eyes at me. "I'm not gonna be grounded for life...just because you wanna take Lelliot's pride and joy off-road buggy for a ride!" He's really freaking out pulling his hair and everything.

"Chris! Chill out! I was kidding!" I hop off my kitchen stool and race around the breakfast bar to give him a hug and calm him down.

"It's not happening, babydoll." He's hugging me so hard that I can hardly breathe. "You'll get hurt..."

"I was just messing with you..." I gasp out. "Chris...can't breathe..."

He goes from freaked out of his mind for my safety to wicked playful and he's got me scooped up over his shoulder and is carrying me towards the back patio. "Oh, you're so gonna pay for that!" He playfully swats my rear when I try to wriggle free.

"Hey!" I giggle and squirm, but he's bigger than me and really strong too. "Put me down, Christian!"

"Oh, I'll put you down, brat." He stalks outside to the backyard and I know what he's gonna do. "You're lucky that it's hot out and that Ray keeps the pool heated..."

"I'm sorry! I couldn't resist when you got the wrong idea!" I squeal when he takes off running towards the pool and I barely have time to plug my nose as he jumps in.

* * *

Chris's parents know that the two of us need to be kept busy or we get into trouble and since it's hot out they have us washing the family car. They left in the Aston Martin for some society lunch and left El and Adam in charge of supervising us.

"We've got the two of you all set." Elliot points to the car wash supplies beside Momma Grace's Volvo V90.

"Try to keep the water war focused on the wagon and not on yourselves." Adam's got his leg in a brace but has ditched the crutches that he's supposed to use.

"You're both crazy smart, so you don't need us watching you. I've got a deadline to meet with a client, so knock yourselves out." Elliot heads back inside.

"I've gotta check-in with the team at 0100..." Adam doesn't trust us and with good reason. The parentals forgot to close the big boy toy garage.

"Say hi to the big brothers!" I smiled sweetly up at him.

"We're good here, Adam. Go touch base with Luke and the guys with your Black Ops satellite phone." Chris rolls his eyes and points the garden house at him. Peppy is perched on his shoulder. "It's not the first time we've washed the family car."

"We'll go to MOD's for lunch and then Cold Stone's after if you both humor us and actually follow orders for once. I know that I'm asking for a miracle, but indulge your walking wounded big brother. Please. Oh, and stay out of Millionaire row behind you." Adam reluctantly gimps his way back inside.

I turn to contemplate Millionaire row. None of the classics or supercars are even on my radar. It's the metallic blue off-road go-kart that's just begging for me and Chris to take it for a ride. Its big brother the modified classic beetle turned dune buggy is way too much for either of us to handle, but the two-seater go-kart is exactly Chris's size. El couldn't fit in it again if he tried. Maybe, he's gonna take it apart and build something new and this is our only chance to get to drive it before it's gone. It's the only thing that makes sense. So, it's now or never. We just have to wait until Adam makes that call.

"No." Chris sprays me with the hose to snap me out of my thoughts.

"What?" I grab the other hose and get him back.

"Whatever it is that your crazy wired brain is plotting, just forget it. The answer is no. We are not doing it." He soaks one side of the wagon with water. Peppy climbs up onto his head to not get wet.

"But it's your size now and if we don't take a chance now we'll never get another chance to drive it," I whine, sticking my bottom lip out in a pout, and give him the look that melts the resolve of nearly every male in our family. Well, not Adam and Logan. They're immune, but add tears and my Chris crumbles every time.

Chris rolls his eyes and starts in on scrubbing down the roof of the car. "Don't bring on the waterworks. The Stinger isn't going anywhere. It was Lelliot's first build. Now you take the parts you can reach and I'll handle the higher ones."

"What if he's taken it out of storage to take it apart and build something else. You'll never get a chance to drive it. You've shot up like Jack's beanstalk. You can reach the gas and breaks now, so you can drive it. No security. The doors are wide open and it's a go-kart, not the Bug Dune buggy! What's the harm?" I sulk as I attack the wagon with my sponge.

Peppy jumps from Chris down onto my head. Chattering at me.

"Lelliot's always said that The Stinger would be mine someday, so why would he go and scrap it for a new project if he was gonna eventually pass it down to me?"

"I don't know maybe he's gonna build a better one for you, but why risk it and not take advantage that the security is off and the doors are open?"

"Dad was in a hurry and he was the guest of honor at whatever award thing he was going to with Mom. He didn't leave it open so that we could take anything in there out of it and drive it around. Are you forgetting how loud The Stinger is? We'd be caught before we even left the drive." He's weakening, just have to nudge him a little bit more and we'll be taking The Stinger for a drive on the lawn.

"El wears earbuds when he's working down in the basement and Adam will be down there talking to Luke and the big brother's on his superphone. You can't hear anything down there. It's soundproof. We won't get caught and be back before they come out to check on us." I counter as I focus on the other side of the wagon with soap and sponge.

"It's been in storage for years and I don't even know if it's safe to even drive it..." Chris is pacing in front of the wagon pulling at his hair and looking over at The Stinger. He's wanted to drive that thing since Elliot made it and the temptation to give in is nearly off the scales.

"We know it has fuel because he started it up and took it down to the beach before they put it in the garage. It works. What more is there other than that?" I've basically taken over washing the wagon because Chris is focusing on all the variables to taking The Stinger for a spin on the lawn.

Amazingly Peppy is taking a nap on my head where it's safe while I'm spraying down the now sparkling clean wagon with the hose.

"I still don't know, Ana..." He turns back to focus on washing the wagon but seeing as he already got the roof and the hood and I got the rest. It's done. Momma Grace never really gets it dirty anyway. It was just something to keep us busy while they were gone.

"We're done...Please, Chris..." I blink up at him with innocent sky blue eyes. "Just up and down the lawn...our parents have booked us solid with so many activities to keep us busy that we'll never get another chance like this. Uncle J is away. My parents are Zombies. Yours just went to a boring awards luncheon. The big brothers are busy with work and checking on the other big brothers stuck God knows where doing who knows what..."

Chris swears in French and Spanish for a good little while and then finally gives in. "I drive. You stay put buckled in beside me..."

"Yes!" I'm grinning and doing my happy dance.

"Anastasia Rose Steele.." He growls using all of my names and I bite my lip blinking up at him through my lashes. "Promise me or we don't do this."

"Fine, but what would it hurt if I sat on your lap and steered while you worked the gears and the pedals?" I shoot him my resigned pouty look.

"Because It's not safe. That's why." He growls, shooting me his exasperated 'you have got to be kidding me' look then starts with the pulling at his hair and pacing again. "I've never driven it and there's no way that you're gonna be sitting on my lap, strapped to me or not, while I drive it. Not happening. You even get so much as a scratch and I'm dead. This is gonna be on me anyway because I'm older. We do it my way or forget it."

"Jeez! Chill already! We're not gonna get caught..." I shoot him with the hose to get him to stop. "We'll do it your way! Stop pulling at your hair or you'll be bald before you're thirteen!"

"You owe me big time for this one, babydoll." He grumbles as he heads for the garage. "I want unlimited sweets snuck to me every day if I get grounded for eternity. Forget that I want it anyway even if we by some miracle do manage to pull this off without getting caught. Fresh homemade, not something from a store..."

"Deal. Baking will give me something to do." I happily skip along after him. "We're not gonna get caught though because you know how to drive it."

"Knowing and doing aren't the same thing..." He mutters darkly. "I'm gonna be grounded for eternity. I just know it."

"How? The cameras are off because there isn't any reason for them to be on right now. Adam's making his call. We've got half hour at least to do this. Trust me they'll never know." I croon soothingly and he just mutters more under his breath.

He stalks around The Stinger checking tires first to make sure they're good to go. Bends down looking under it to see whatever he thinks needs to be there. Looks at the engine and does something with the oil and a cloth to make sure it has enough. Then a few other things before he's convinced it's not gonna crash or blow up on us while he drives it.

"We can't start it up in the garage, so we'll have to put it in neutral and back it out first. I can't push it out onto the drive and steer at the same time, so you're gonna have to sit in the driver's seat and steer while I push." He gets in, puts it in neutral and then gets back out again.

"I can do that..." I grin and he lifts me up and sets me down on the seat.

"Turn the wheel as soon as we clear the garage..." He gets in front of it and starts to push and we roll out onto the driveway. "Now, Ana."

"Got it." I turn the wheel until we're pointed towards the backyard.

Peppy leaps down onto the seat and then out of The Stinger, and streaks off to the safety of the backyard.

"I hear ya, little pal," Chris grumbles, as he watches his furry little ball of fur disappear from sight.

"It's gonna be fine. He just hates cars." I continue with the soothing the grouchy lion tone.

"Scoot over Ana and I'll strap you in." He points to the other seat.

I don't wanna push it, so I scoot over and he puts the safety harness on me and makes sure I'm not going anywhere.

"Don't move."

"Like I could if I wanted to." I snort, rolling my eyes.

He takes his place in the driver's seat, puts his own harness on, and then starts up The Stinger. The sound of it roaring to life echoes around us and we both shoot a look over at the house, but no big brothers come racing out of it. So we're good to go. "Once. Up and down the lawn and that's it." He locks eyes with me.

"Once...that's hardly any..." I sulk, folding my arms.

"Anastasia..." He starts with my full name again.

"Fine. Once. But you're being paranoid. We aren't gonna get caught..." I grumble.

"The lawn is huge. Like over a football field so it's enough. Stop with the sulking or we don't do this..."

"Sorry, sorry, I'll be good. Just go before we really are caught." Sheesh is he in a mood today. I'm just trying to get us to have a little fun.

"Hey, I'm only doing this for you, so don't even start with the fun crap. I was fine with going swimming or biking after we finished washing the car." He puts it in gear, takes his foot off the break, and hits the gas a little too much and we go crazy fast into the backyard and onto the lawn. "Crap, I hit the gas a little too much. You okay?" He shouts at me over the roar of the engine.

"I'm fantastic! This is great! Go faster!" I squeal with delight.

"I can't floor it or it'll kill the lawn. This is fast enough." Chris has us zooming across the lawn past the Boathouse and down the path to the beach. Then he really let's then Stinger fly across the sand and we're streaking past my house.

"This is unreal!" Chris is now just giving into the rush of being able to drive it and is having a blast doing it. "Hang on! I'm gonna drift and then head us back towards home now!"

"Floor it!" I screaming happily as he spins The Stinger and we zoom back down the beach.

"We have to do this again when we're older and have permission!" He shouts as we zoom past my house again.

"We so do!" I squeal happily. Neither of us can hear anything let alone my Dad shouting at us from my lawn.

"Did you hear something!?" Chris shouts as he heads us back up the path at a safer speed.

"What?!" I shout back as we head down the lawn again.

"Oh crap!" Chris goes from a high to panic mode in second when he tries the breaks. "Not good!"

What's wrong!"

"No breaks! And we're heading towards Mom's greenhouse!" He shuts off The Stinger's engine, but we've barely slowed down. "I can barely steer it! We're not wearing helmets or dressed for this either! This is bad, Ana! We won't stop in time!"

My eyes widen in terror as the glasshouse looms closer and closer. "What about steering towards the pool? The gate's wide open and we'll just end up wet not cut to pieces!"

"I can't steer enough to get us through it safely and we'll hit the fence! Either way, we're toast. The roll-cage and windshield will help shield us. Pull your T-shirt down around your legs, curl into a tight ball, duck your head down to protect your face, and I'll try and get us out of this in one piece..."

"What about you..." I whimper shakily.

"Do it! Ana! Now!" He snarls at me through gritted teeth.

I quickly do as I'm told just in time as we crash into the greenhouse doors sending glass flying everywhere and I can feel stinging on my arms and feet as The Stinger is finally stopped by one of the heavy tables inside.

* * *

"Chris...are you okay..." I whimper, wincing because my entire body got jarred. I lift my head up and peak over at him. There are tiny glass pebbles and pottery shards all over us.

"I'll live for now until our parents kill me for giving into one of your crazy ideas again. The door got me in a few places...I kinda hit my head on the steering...you okay..." His stormy gray eyes go wide with alarm and he goes into panic mode major ignoring the glass scattered everywhere around us. He tries to release his harness so that he can be free to get to me, but he's shaking like I am. "You're bleeding!"

"You're head's bleeding..." I cry out in panic, seeing that his head is bleeding.

"Chris! Annie!" That's my Dad and Elliot.

"Stay still or you'll hurt yourselves worse than you already are! You're both lucky it's mostly safety glass!" Adam shouts from just outside and you can tell that he's crazy scared that we're really hurt.

"Ana's bleeding..." Chris's hands can't stop shaking enough to release his harness.

"Me?! You've got blood running down your face!" I was protected way more than he was and only have cuts on my arms and a few on my feet.

"Don't move!" Crap that's Daddy Cary!

"I'm getting my bag!" That's Momma Grace!

"Let's pull them back out... It's the only way to really get them out safely and not compromise the greenhouse anymore than it is..." El sounds scared out of his mind. "Hang tight, kiddos. We're going to pull you two out."

I can hear shoes crunching the glass as they get behind The Stinger and carefully start pulling us backward out of the Greenhouse and then safely out onto the lawn.

Our Dad's race over to either side of The Stinger and go to work getting us out of our harnesses while Momma Grace races outside with her doctor bag, the phone to her ear talking to someone about sending an ambulance just to be safe.

Daddy Cary carefully lifts Chris out.

Daddy scoops me up into his arms.

Neither one of them is saying anything to either of us, so we're in major serious trouble.

"I just wanted to be able to ride in it before El scraps it for another rebuild." I sniffle miserably, as Daddy carry's me over by Momma Grace. "Chris didn't want to at first, but I wouldn't stop bugging him..."

"Scrap The Stinger?! It's my baby! I only got it out of storage to get it ready to give to Chris for his Birthday!" El's over by Chris helping Daddy Cary brush off all the glass before Momma Grace can look him over.

"Quit while you're ahead, little Pixie." Adam's helping Daddy brush all the glass off of me.

"You, baby-girl, blinked your baby blues at him and pouted until you finally got your way. The kid has no defense against it and you know it. You knew better. Chris knew better, but as usual, you bewitched him into having your little way, only this time it almost ended with the two of you getting yourselves seriously hurt!" Daddy growls softly, a clear sign that he's crazy mad at me. He's checking me over from head to toe.

"I'm sorry..." My bottom lip quivers and I burst into tears. "Chris got really hurt..."

"You're grounded for the next little while Princess." He kisses each owie as he finds them. Most are just little cuts except for the one on my foot that Adam's taking glass out of with tweezers. It's bleeding like Chris's head.

"I deserve being grounded for life because she's hurt and it's my fault. I didn't even think about helmets..." Chris is taking full blame for what happened. "I should have said no...I knew it was a bad idea...but I caved..."

His confession is drowned out by the sound of the ambulance arriving to take us to get checked out at the hospital.

* * *

Next Part 2 - Chris tries to show how sorry for destroying his Mom's Greenhouse by cooking her breakfast... ^_-


	7. Chapter 7-Where's my Ana!

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Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 7- Where's my Ana?!

A/N: Adam mentioned this in the last chapter of Teddy and Family and this is part two of three. It didn't go like I originally had in mind, so we're getting to see Chris's angry, defiant side, which Ana shockingly calls him on in a spooky way and it all leads to his disaster of an apology to Grace in part 3. This was so much fun to write and it just took on a totally different path than what I originally planned...that's what muses do...and ya gotta follow where your muses take you or find yourself hopelessly blocked if you try and persuade them otherwise.

I just love writing fluff and humor when there is so much drama in nearly every update I've read lately in my favorite stories and hope that those who read any of my stories love them because it makes them smile, laugh, and enjoy. I know they're different and you rarely see that I've updated in the Facebook groups because I guess they're too tame to put a spotlight on, but I truly hope those who discover them or love them that they lighten up the stress of their day.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed my stories

I love hearing your reaction to them!

All mistakes are mine...enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: The original characters are mine as is the story idea. I don't own anything else accept for that! (I love to play with famous characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

* * *

Chris

Five days!

Mom finally sprung me from the children's wing at Seattle Grace after my tenth escape from my room.

Yeah, I was seeing double off and on, my head felt like it had an entire drum core practicing inside it, and a few balance issues for the last few days, but why couldn't Mom have kept an eye on me at home!?

I loathe hospitals and to make it worse! No Ana! For five days, not even being able to talk to her on the phone, so my nightmares made an ugly return too! It didn't help that instead of a private room I was sharing with a kid that was recovering from burns all over his back and hands. Listening to them treat him brought back all kinds of lovely memories and even more vivid horrific dreams.

I get that they wanted me to learn my lesson, but in my defense, it was not my fault that I crashed the Stinger. It had no brakes for me to stop and it took mad skills to keep it so that it only hit the doors! I kept us from hitting the concrete wall that makes up a lot of the fence around the pool because the steering went bad too. If none of that hadn't happened I would have had it back in the garage and we wouldn't have gotten a scratch on us.

Not that it matters anymore. Ana's fears that it was gonna be scrapped came true. Our Dads and Uncle Jason...yep they cut their trip short to come back home because of our accident. Well, our big brothers kinda insisted that they come back because they were called off to another super secret mission and their free time was canceled and Jason and Gail were needed here because it was insanity to leave Ana to fend for herself with zombie parents to look after her.

Ana and I are being forced to take a time-out from each other by the parentals! Not cool! We need each other and they just don't get it! I think that she's grounded at home, but I can't feel her nearby.

I know. Feel her? Crazy right? No, Ana and I share this freaky weird link with each other, sort of like my twin link with Mia, only like infinitely times stronger. We go into withdrawal if they separate us like they're doing to us now. It's been like that since the second she and I locked eyes when we were babies.

Ana gets crazy depressed and will make one of Mia's tantrums look like nothing if she can't get to see me after a few days. It's the same with me I get depressed. The nightmares return in force. I am not someone you want to be around if I don't get my Ana fix on a daily basis and I mean Chris and Ana time.

We can't take separate vacations. One of us will try and get to the other and believe me, we're crazy smart enough to fool an airline into getting us a free flight because we missed the plane with our parents. Kevin from that movie _Home Alone_ has nothing on the two of us. We will stop at nothing to get to each other. Japan to London. Paris to Sydney.

Distance means nothing.

You would think that after two failed family vacations away from each other that they would learn not to separate us, but if I can't feel my Ana near me and haven't for days then they must have sent her to her Gran and Great Gran's horse ranch in Everett.

Grandma and Grandpa T have an apple farm right next to it. He was the CLO of James-Walker something or other, but now he's retired and growing heirloom apples. Gran was Chief of Staff at Seattle Grace, but when Gramp's retired so did she but she still spends a lot of time at the free clinic that she opened for anyone who needs a doctor.

We usually spend time in the summer there, but that's not till like the end of Summer. This summer we've got a lot going on with sports and her dance classes that's like every day she has to be really pissed at her parents by now.

* * *

"Christian?" Mom's waving her hand in front of my scowling face. Guess I zoned out and she's been trying to get my attention. "Sweetheart, is your tummy still bothering you? You barely touched your lunch."

"Where's Ana," I growl, folding my arms, glowering up at her.

Mom's eyes widen and she gets that look in her eyes when she doesn't want to tell us what we wish to know. "Christian..."

"I know she's not anywhere near Seattle because I can't feel her, so where's my Ana." I lock eyes with her, arching a brow. Waiting for her to confess that she was sent away for what they think is our own good.

Mom's staring at me her hazel eyes wide like I've shocked her with my demand. "Now...sweet boy...it's not..."

The parents refuse to accept that Ana and I are linked. They can't comprehend that we're forever intertwined. I asked her to marry me when I was four and I fully intend to collect on that promise when we're no longer under our parent's control.

Yeah, I'm ten but it never hurts to plan ahead for the future. I'm gonna have my own company and Ana's gonna have her own publishing house. We're gonna rule and save the world from itself. Just watch us! It's gonna be epic!

"Where is my Anastasia Rose, Mother." My eyes darken to storm clouds, my tone cold. Five days of burning alive every time I closed my eyes or the vivid memory flashes every time I looked at Dexter in agony over in the next bed. I couldn't handle it so I escaped every chance I got.

"We thought some distance was needed..." She tries to brush my unruly copper curls out of my eyes, but I shy away and face myself away from her. "Darling, don't be like this...it's not forever..." She tries to give me a hug and I launch myself to the other end of the couch to avoid her.

"Your lesson backfired, mother." I glare coldly at her from my corner. "Being forced to share a room with Dexter brought it all back! I remember details that I've never even seen before! I felt the burning as if it was happening to me again! My nightmares are back and with a vengeance! Were you and Dad so pissed at me that you didn't even think of what putting me in the room with a burn victim was gonna do to me!?"

"Christian..." Mom's staring at me horrified with tears streaming down her cheeks. "I didn't think..."

I curl up in a ball and bury myself under the blankets on the couch.

"The burn unit was at capacity due to a four-alarm apartment fire...there wasn't room yet for Dexter...no one was trying to teach you a lesson...I would never do that..." She sobs and tries to touch me again, but I just can't stand it right now. "I'm so sorry, sweet boy...Momma's so sorry..."

"Don't care..." I burrow deeper into the blankets. "Leave me alone...I want my Ana..."

"She's spending time at her Grandmother Ana's while her foot heals...it's for the best right now that the two of you have some space from..." She's not getting it at all.

"Fine!" I throw off my blankets and vault to my feet. "Then forget about me eating! Taking my medicine! Touching me! Me talking to any of you until you get it that we need each other! You don't exist for me! You aren't my Mother! My mother carried me and my sister out of our burning house and left us in your care! She's probably dead too and you're lying that she's not! She was burned worse than I was! She would never have put me in the same room with a kid like Dexter! I don't believe that there wasn't room in the burn unit for him! You and Carrick were pissed and wanted to teach me a lesson, so instead of letting me come home and heal under your expert care! I got stuck in that room with him! Now it's all back only worse and I can't stand being touched again!" I scream and rant at her and then bolt to my room.

"Christian!"

* * *

I don't care if the room is spinning. My head is coming off and I feel like puking again. Ana's gone! For weeks! I race up the stairs ignoring everyone and everything until I'm in my room. I slam the door shut. Lock it. Put my chair under the door handle and throw myself onto my bed and cry my eyes out and scream into my pillow. Knowing that when I close my eyes it's all gonna haunt me endlessly until Ana is back with me again.

"Christian Alexander! Open this door! Now! Young man!" Dad's pissed, but I don't care. I meant what I said. I'm not taking it back. I'm not sorry. "I know that you're angry at us about being in the hospital, and Ana, but that's no reason to take it out on your mother!"

"Chris..." Lelliot knocks on the door and tries the doorknob. "Let me in, baby bro..."

"El? What's up with Chris? Did he just scream that he's reliving the fire again? That his Haphephobia is back? The nightmares too?" Adam's the only one getting it. "What triggered it?"

"Mom stuck me with a kid who was a fire victim on purpose! I'm not sorry! I need my Ana! You don't understand anything! You don't care!Go away! Leave me alone!" I angrily shout as I make it so that they can't get to me from the doors leading out to the balcony either.

"What the hell, Dad!" Lelliot's on my side. "No wonder he's so pissed at you and mom. And I don't blame him either. That's messed up!"

"I kept escaping my room, but did mom or dad get a clue? No! She had them bring me back! Neither of you even asked what was wrong or why! I kept asking to come home, but Mom wouldn't listen to me. You wouldn't even let Ana call me! Why?! Because you're both clueless about why we need each other or about our link! So no! I don't wanna say sorry! No! I don't want either of you to touch me because keeping me there with him brought it all back again! Only now that I'm older the dreams and flashes are even worse, because I'm remembering even more! I don't trust either of you!" I'm screaming at him now, seeing red, and wanna trash my room, but since I'm gonna be stuck in here for a while I decide to throw myself back on my bed instead and scream into my pillow some more.

"Not good his PTSD is back on steroids and he's not going to want to talk to his shrink either..." Adam's right. Mom tried to get me to talk to this guy Flynn because I kept escaping, but I shut down and glared at him or buried myself under the covers every time until he left.

"And you banned the two of them from even speaking to each other? Did two failed family vacations where they both stopped at nothing to get to each other not teach you that they can't be separated from each other for long periods of time!? I mean the first time she was in Tokyo with her folks and we were in London and she found her way to him. The last time she was in Sydney and we were in Paris and he went to her. They can't be apart! Going on nine years and none of you still get it. Tell Ray to bring her back home ASAP! The accident wasn't his fault! It was a mechanical failure! You're punishing them for finally acting like kids and not super smart little wonders and that's wrong. Mom knew that keeping him in the hospital longer would give Ray a chance to send Ana off to her Grans and it had nothing to do with his head being hurt at all. It's no wonder that he went off on Mom like that and is barricading himself. Your paranoia about their bond knows no bounds." Lelliot's really giving it to our Dad.

"A little time apart isn't gonna hurt them and I wasn't aware that the child sharing his room was a burn victim...as for admitting him in the hospital without just cause nothing could be further from the truth. He had and is still recovering from a mild concussion and that isn't something that you can just treat by recuperating at home. You and Adam both know this from having endured head injuries of your own. Your mother would never keep him in a place that he's terrified of or hates just to keep him and Ana apart." Dad's one of the best lawyers in the country and they are trained to lie. He's fantastic at his job, so I don't believe a word.

"If I was so injured then how was I able to escape without hurting myself worse! How was I able to hide and evade everyone from finding me for hours!? Huh?! Did you think that I was just acting out! I was desperate to leave my room! Not that either of you cared! No! You sent Doctor Flynn to talk to me! When all that I wanted to do was go home, far away from the kid in my room! I wanted Ana! To talk to her! To hug her! But no! You wouldn't even allow us our nightly phone call! You and Mom both suck balls! I hate you! The nightmares! Not wanting anyone to touch me! It's all on you! It's all on Mom for putting that kid's needs above her own son's mental well-being!" I shout at him through my door.

"Christian! That's enough! Your mother did no such thing!" Dad's shouting. He never ever shouts unless he's really mad.

"I want my Ana!" I'm too pissed to care.

"If you had used your words instead of escaping like you did then maybe we could have done something about getting you moved, but you chose to endure it in silence. Five days of refusing to talk to us. We can't read your mind, son. You have to communicate with us in order for us to be able to help you. The nurses told Grace about your nightmares and not wishing for them to touch you and that's why we immediately contacted Aiden and he recommended John Flynn, as he's currently unable to see you do to family issues. He recommended that you needed to finish healing in a familiar safe environment and that your drastic regression with no reason as to why was alarming. You couldn't be treated for that until the trigger was discovered and the only way for that to happen was for you to start talking again. The fact is Ana has twenty stitches. Ten on each of her feet. You got twenty in your head and a few on both of your arms. You're ten. She's nine. There are times when the two of you are going to be separated and this is one of them. You both needed to heal. She needed more supervision and attention than Ray and Carla could give her right now, so they sent her to stay with her Grandmothers. It's not forever. She's just as frustrated as you are, only more determined to get to her Chris. She's called home in tears every night that you needed her to chase the boogieman away. Ray says she's having nightmares and refuses to eat. Jason went up to get her and she should be home either tonight or in the morning..."

I take in all that Dad's saying and now I feel like the worst son ever! I just assumed that I was stuck in that room, so I froze them out. I'm a kid, so I figured that meant I had no say, so why try. I went into mental survival mode and just shut down.

"No one wants either of you to be miserable. There was a fire a serious one and it had several hospitals scrambling to handle everyone who needed care. You're such a sweetheart and show so much compassion that I truly did not think to have to share a room would cause such a reaction in you. You've been nightmare free for years now and have overcome nearly all of your fears. I also know how much you hate hospitals and should have taken that into account as well as what being around another burn victim was going to do to you. My only thought was about your head injury at the time and I am so sorry that I took your silence and wanting to escape as acting out in protest of not being able to go home or seeing Ana. John has this amazing ability to read his patients even though they refuse to cooperate. He's especially good with patients that have undergone severe mental trauma..." Mom's using her soothing and calming voice, but I can tell that she's still been crying. I hurt her and I feel like crap about it.

 _Christian Alexander Grey! Bad form! Momma Grace did not deserve to feel your wrath like that! We're kids! We don't have rights yet! Especially during hospital stays! Was there a phone there for me to call you? No! We're kids! You will chill the fudge out right this minute! I know that you're frustrated over being stuck with someone who brought the boogie man back LIVE and in technicolor again, you're missing me like crazy too! I get that I do, but to take it out on Momma Grace! To accuse her of what you did?! Just! No! That's not my Chris!_

Holy shit! My conscious is beyond pissed at me! So what if the voice in my head is my Ana! Jealous much! Gotta say, though, she usually isn't this clear and it's usually the voice of reason, not the flaming that I'm getting now. Then again my head has the percussion section sounding in it again. I'm dizzy. Oh, and I wanna puke. Maybe this is just another side effect of my concussion?

 _They don't understand our link because they're adults and have lost that side of themselves that can believe in magic or anything weird! Parents are clueless and it's just something that they can't help! We just have to grit our teeth and try to be patient and indulge them! I know that you're miserable and I've felt and shared in your misery for five days straight! I never understood until now the constant hell on earth that you have to keep locked away in your head all the time! I tried to get to you the first day, but GrandpaT scooped me up before I got on the bus! Attempt number two was a bust. Barney got me choice first class tickets on American, but Uncle J caught on that time and that went to some lucky passenger who was bumped from the flight, because of um...us...Do you know how much it costs to have a TAXI come get you from the Grands...A lot! Let's just say that our Grandparents were not happy to pay the fare for the guy to go back home! So that was my third attempt and failure to get to you and be your dreamcatcher! I called the nurses station every night to try and talk to you, but like I said we have no rights! It majorly fudging sucks, but we gotta wait until we're like eighteen and can vote!_

Holy! What the!? Ana's fucking talking to me in my head!? Shit! I'm having a Professor X/ Jean Grey experience!?

 _Hello!? Dunderhead! I've been doing this forever and so have you! You've just been in complete and total denial! You just think it's your conscious speaking when it's been me the whole time! Though, thanks for the Jean Grey bit! She rocks! Do you think I can move stuff with my mind? That would be so fudging cool!_

"Holy Fucking shit! Ana's actually talking to me in my head!" I shout out loud and that gets a whole lot of pounding and panicking going on outside my door.

"Christian Alexander Trevylan-Grey! Open this door!"

"Baby bro is missing a few screws if he thinks Ana's actually talking to him! That hit on the head must have done some damage!"

"Christian?! It's Mommy! Does your head hurt? Are you dizzy again?! Please, baby boy! Open the door! You're not well yet!"

"You can't be serious? This can't shock any of you! They have a fucking link to each other! They feel each other's pain! They can't be separated for an extended period of time! For Christ sake! Will you all calm the fuck down! He's not losing his marbles! He's just realizing that she's actually there in his head!"

 _Oh, nice one! You really are a dunderhead today! I'll be sure to visit you in the physiatric wing at Seattle Grace! You just blew our secret! You fudging moron! Never! Ever! Blurt out that you can hear someone, who's currently like fifty miles away from you, talking to you in your head! It's your fastest ticket to those nice men in white jackets and a padded room! Add that you're still recuperating from a head injury and it's lose-lose, for you, Chris! What's your new shrinks name again?! Flynn? Well, I guarantee that your Dad or Mom has him on speed dial and is calling him right now! We were so close to getting to see each other again and you just had to ruin everything! We have no rights! You idiot! I'm nine! They won't let me visit you in your padded room at the hospital! They'll think that I'm your trigger! I'll be banished to the Grans for the summer until they deem you're mentally well enough to have the girl whom you claim to hear in your head be around you again! You are...so...of all the...we promised to never ever spill that...don't you read the comics that you're addicted too! Weird or magic is not something that adults can understand! Now I gotta get with the rest of the Scooby Gang and find a way to spring you from a bloody padded room in one of the most secure mental health floors in the state of Washington! I know that Barney and I are good, but we're just nine and...I don't think we've graduated to that level yet!_

I ignore my freaked out family and am pacing my room pulling at my hair because my Ana just called me a fucking idiot and she's right! I'm gonna be spending a lot of time glaring at Doctor John Flynn! Fuck! Would my parents let him lock me away for my own good?! Oh, shit! This is bad! The thing is I can't get over that she called me all kinds of versions of an idiot! Then I think to myself fuck it! If she can so talk to me then I can so talk to her and I focus on our link.

 _Babydoll? Did you just call me stupid? Like Five times!? I'm running on zero sleep! I can't stand anyone to touch me for hours after my nightmares! I remember more of what happened! I saw my momma... Ella...carrying us out of a burning inferno! Protecting us while she was on fire herself! I can feel the flames as if it's happening to me again! I'm mourning for the loss of grandmothers and a mother that I erased from my mind just to remain sane! My brain can't function on zero sleep, Anastasia Rose! In my defense, this is the first fucking time when you've actually talked not lectured to me in my head! So excuse the fuck me if I assumed that my mind created a voice of reason that sounds like you!_

 _I know! You've been sharing them all with me for five days! Why do you think that I'm being so bitchy with you right now?! I can't sleep either! I can feel your pain! We feel each other's everything! It's not like we can just shut it off! Especially when one of us is calling out to the other! I'm sorry! I usually just choose to lecture you! Be the voice of reason! It's just that I couldn't stand what you were doing and had to call you out on it! I didn't think that you'd freak out and shout that you were talking to me in your head!_

That stops me cold.

No...no...no...my babydoll does not need to see that ever!

 _I'm so sorry, babydoll!_

 _Don't you dare, Christian! If sharing your pain or fighting the boogieman helps you get better again then that's what we're gonna do! I will happily fight your battles alongside you forever and that's never ever gonna change! You are mine! I am yours! We are a team! We are unstoppable! No boogieman! Nothing is gonna ever break us! Crap! Aunt Gail and Uncle J are giving me the look! Oh, forgot to tell ya my news! I got my own shrink now too! Her name is Rhain Flynn and the Grands made me have a chat with her about why I kept trying to escape to get to you! She's from Ireland and her husband John is from England! Coincidence much?! Our new docs are married to each other!_

I'm in tears and beyond freaked out at this point and if I don't open my door soon my Dad's gonna turn it into splinters to get to me. I stumble to my door and shakily remove the chair that I'd shoved under it. Then barely manage to dive onto my bed.

Head really didn't like that! When my Dad kicks my door open to get to me. Not that I'm gonna be needing a new door, seeing as that Flynn guy is gonna admit me to the funny wing for observation!

 _Cripes! Did your dad just break down your door?! Um...I'd better cool it until I can talk to you in person and give you a hug if you're still home after your talk with Flynn...Love you lots! Hugs! Boywonder!_

And just like that, all is quiet, but I still feel her like she's trying to send me a mental hug and all the love she can muster through our link. We're each other's security blankets. Physical or otherwise. It calms me down to sniffles. My heads still coming off and I seriously feel like I'm gonna hurl any second.

"Son...you can't get yourself upset like that..."

"Oh, sweetie..." Mom pulls me into her arms. "Tell me where it hurts and mommy will try and make it all better."

"Not looking so good there, little bro."

"Man, Chris...you shouldn't have worked yourself up like that now your body is gonna seriously make you pay big time."

I wriggle out of Mom's arms. I stumble into my bathroom, get sick in the toilet, and just as Dad reaches me. Everything goes black.


	8. Chapter 8- Flynn

Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 8- Flynn

A/N: Did I say three parts, well we're going for four parts! It didn't go like I originally had in mind. Nothing new about that and his interaction with Flynn took quite a few pages. This is what muses do...and ya gotta follow where you're they take you and this is how it turned out. It just took me a few days to figure out which direction I wanted this to go in regards to how Christian reacts to Flynn.

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed my stories

I love hearing your reaction to them!

All mistakes are mine...enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the original characters are mine as is the story idea. (Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

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Chris

Lesson learned. Angry tantrums and concussions don't play well together. I don't really know how long I've been out of it, but I do know that I'm back in my bed again, so Dad must have caught me before my body decided to crash after puking my guts out. My head isn't pounding as bad as it was and I know that I'm not alone because it's so quiet in my room that I can hear pages turning in a book.

It's not Ana. She'd be curled up next to me. I don't think it's a family member either, because they more than likely are just letting me sleep. I slowly blink open my eyes, wondering who my parents would trust to sit in my room reading while I'm sleeping, and try and focus on my silent observer.

Oh, crap! It's that Flynn guy!

My eyes widen in alarm that Ana was right and I don't really want to be spending time in the hospital again this time in the psychiatric wing!

"Hello, Christian." He puts down the journal that he was reading and we lock eyes. His calm blue to my wary Grey. "Were you having another nightmare?"

"That depends..." I croak out, my throat is raw from being sick before I blacked out.

He gets up and goes to get me a glass of water from my bathroom. "And that would be?" He walks over and hands me the glass which I take still eyeing him warily.

I slowly down the glass of water and find my voice again. "Whether or not my answer gets me landed back in the hospital again..."

"Christian, that's not how it works and it would take a great deal for me to recommend something as drastic as that for a patient. I'm here to listen..." Flynn smirks at me in amusement and starts with the whole pitch of how he's gonna help me battle my mental demons and get me back on track again, but I've heard it before and I don't wish to hear it again.

"Yeah, right, like you aren't here because of my regression to being touched, nightmares, or memory flashes..." I snark, narrowing my eyes.

"Actually, I'm here for you." He takes the chair that he was sitting in and brings it over beside my bed. "I was chatting with Mr. Steele when Grace called me after..."

"I lost the plot? Went mental? Crackers? Bonkers? Ballistic? Lashed out? Threw a fit? My snit? Shouted that Ana was talking to me in my head? Yeah, I'll bet you couldn't get here fast enough." I snort, rolling my eyes.

"Let's just say that you loudly voiced your displeasure over your extended hospital stay and time apart from Anastasia. No need to assign a label to something when you were well within your right to be upset about having to be exposed to something that triggered your worst nightmares and intensified them as well. Now as for your special bond with Anastasia..."

I narrow my eyes at him, "It's real. Our soul-bond. Heart-link. Is as tangible as it gets. She's my other half, just as I am forever hers. Soulmate. Heart-mate. Kismet. No matter how you label it. Describe it. Once in a blue moon. A miracle. Once in a lifetime. We are it for each other. Forever eternally bonded. Nothing and no one is ever, can ever come between what we have. She's always been my conscience that little angel or sometimes devil on my shoulder depending on what's up. I went off on my mom and she called me on it because I wasn't calming down. She couldn't just race across from her house and do it, so she used our heart-link to flame my ass instead. Your wife has her work cut out for her if she thinks that she can tame my little spitfire. But if Dr. Rhian Flynn can help her deal with what she saw from my dreams or my head then I'm all for it. I can usually block her from it, but being hurt and it involving my head makes that near to impossible to do, so now she's seen what I lived through. I hope like hell that she hasn't felt it, but then we share each other's physical pain so not holding out much hope that she hasn't now that it's back in LIVE Technicolor in my head again."

"Astounding...abs-bloody-lutely...astounding..."

I've floor the good doctor with my heartfelt declaration and words for my babydoll. I'm trying to keep a fierce face, but the good doctor reminds me of a very beloved famous British television character. The resemblance really is uncanny to the sixth Doctor Who. "No just Fact, all anyone has to do is open their eyes and see what's glaringly obvious right in front of their faces. It's not acting out at all we need to be near each other and if we're not then we will stop at nothing to reunite. Family vacations. Timeouts for no reason. We will always find a way. Our parents need to acknowledge it. Embrace it. The older we get the more either of us is gonna push back and rebel if they ever decide to try and separate us for our own good." I continue without missing a beat.

"What the two of you have is nothing short of miraculous and the strength of your bond is difficult for some to wrap their minds around. The logical mind doesn't wish to reason that the impossible is happening before their very eyes. Most in my field would chalk what the two of you have as an obsession or call it unhealthy because they can't understand the depth of the connection which the two of you share with each other. Most would recommend a trial separation in order for the two of you to be able to grow without the influence of the other to stifle it..." He goes into his take on what I just said. His eyes show understanding and so do his mannerisms, but I'm still on my guard.

"She saved me, Doctor Flynn. It's just that simple. Screw logic. Wolves mate for life. They lock eyes and that's it. Boom. They Imprint. They're forever. We locked eyes at one and two and have been inseparable ever since. Anyone that can't understand can go screw themselves." I fold my arms across my chest and lock eyes with him.

"Christian, like it or not, the older the two of you become, your parents are going to set boundaries. Rules. That's just fact. What the two of you share is frightening to your parents. Already those feelings are growing and they can see that even if they deny that it's there. It'll get infinitesimally stronger when you hit your teens and she becomes more than just your best friend..."

"Then we'll get really creative and it'll be on them!" I growl, knowing that he's right and not liking it one bit. I mean that's years from now! I can't even think of us being like Sam and Logan. If we get that bad then just shoot me! It's gross! "I'm almost eleven! She's my best friend! Sure she's my more and my everything, but that's a long, long, time from now! We're kids! Why even go there!"

 _Chris! Play nice! I'm with you on the lovey stuff! Just ewe! Yeah, you'll be my everything and my more too, but jeez we're kids! Why bring up the crazy hormones and mushy stuff now?! That's nuts! Nevertheless, you have to charm the good Doctor into being on our side! He wasn't talking about himself! He was talking about those snotty doctors that work at the hospital and can't see anything beyond what's stated in their beloved medical journals or textbooks! Rhian is cool! So I bet that John will be too, but you have to cool your hothead and LISTEN! Play along! Calm down and I'll bring you treats! I've got five days to make up for and the Grans taught me all kinds of new yummy treats. I only got to watch because I had to stay off my feet, but we made lots and I made sure to save some for you. They did everything to keep me busy. Not that it worked. I was too worried and missing you! Now we're so close to seeing each other and you're blowing it! Be nice! Yay! Uncle J's stopping at DQ! I'll make him load up on treats! Listen! Nod your head! Humor the man! See ya in an hour or so that's if they allow you, visitors! Doctor Flynn is the gatekeeper so be nice!_

 _Give me a fudging break, Anastasia! I'm trying! I just woke up a little while ago! So chill out with the flaming lectures! I am listening, but I don't know him! I think I'm being nice! I'm not shouting at him, am I? I'm talking, not shutting him out. I'm on the defense because you have me thinking that he's gonna take me in for observation! Let me focus! Okay! Babydoll..._

My eyes widen in surprise not expecting another flaming lecture again so soon, and it clearly shows on my face.

 _Sorry! I just worry! Love ya lots! Boy-wonder! Be Nice!_

Flynn's giving me that I know that something just happened look and instead of continuing on with the whole when we get serious and wanna be boyfriend and girlfriend rules and panicked parents bit he changes it to something altogether different. "The sad thing about this country is that most American's are close-minded and anything different is normally shunned not embraced. Whereas in the UK and Europe we're older wiser and able to embrace it more freely because it's been around for hundreds of years. Merlin, Camelot, Faye, Shining Ones, magic folk...legends...lore...stories past down for generations. My wife and I also hold a doctorate in Parapsychology, so that link that you share isn't going to cloud how we treat the two of you in the least."

"Yeah, Ana said that she thought she was cool, so she must have embraced Ana's obsession with everything weird. Me. Let's just say that I'm not as enthusiastic as she is about it. I tend to go with logic and reason, so that's probably why it's taken me this long to get that she's been talking to me all along and not just my conscience driving me crazy." I roll my eyes, inwardly bracing for his take on what's still pretty much freaking me the fuck out.

"I see..." He nods. "So her advice. Grounds you?"

"We ground each other. We're each other's voice of reason, secret keeper, support system, cheerleader, protector..." I shrug not even close to confiding anything in depth to him.

"Carrick and Ray both say that she has a very compelling nature and you have no defense against it. One that she likes to use to her advantage..."

I don't like where this is going and my defenses go on red alert. "We start with our Summer schedule in two weeks. It's not just extracurriculars either. Our minds are too important to risk taking a break for the summer like normal kids can. Instead, we get to take university correspondence courses on top of required summer homework from school. We have zero downtime! Yes, taking the Stinger without permission was reckless, but I also knew what I was doing! Why is that?! Once you show me something I never forget it! The only thing that I have ever been able to blank out was the fire and even that is coming back into focus because my mother trapped me in a hospital room with a kid suffering from severe burns and night-terrors!"

"Christian..."

"No! I get that there was a fricking four-alarm fire disaster! What I don't get is why she would ever think that I would be okay with being trapped with a burn victim!? Isn't there some rule that states that your parent can't be your attending doctor or something, because it impairs their judgment when a loved one is in need of treatment or in an emergency? I know that I'm just a kid and basically have no rights, but after this, I don't want my mom to be my primary doctor anymore! Mother, in this case, did not know what was best for me! She was thinking that I could emphasize with the kid, because of the way that I have acted with other patients of hers! I don't think that Uncle Marcus would have stranded me in the room with a burn patient!"

"Uncle Marcus? "

"Dr. Marcus Weston. I call him Uncle because I've known him all my life. He's a close friend of my family, a colleague of my Mom's, and the primary care doctor for my big brothers. I trust him. He knows all of my phobias and he would have talked to me instead of making assumptions that I was acting out because they banned me from my Ana..."

"Christian, you and Ana terrified your parents and during situations such as the crash, the logic and reason do not go hand in hand. Protect and prevent override rational thought. Then to make matters, even more, trying a Code Black at the hospital made emotions already pushed to the breaking point even acuter, as Grace had to think of her incoming patients as well as her son's own well-being. She needed you safely tucked in before she could concentrate on her incoming trauma patients. During a Code Black situation when the hospital is in a massive casualty triage situation patients are admitted into any and all available rooms and they care not whether the patient sharing the room with another patient has issues or not. It's been nearly nine years since your horrific ordeal. The staff has changed quite a bit since then, so no one would think of your needs. You didn't use your voice to alert anyone to your issues. You chose to run and hide until you were found and brought back to your room, only to start that cycle again the following morning. Mind reading is as rare as catching a shooting star. Silence only compounds an issue and the result is never pleasant for anyone involved. Communication is key to solving any manner of issues without it life would be complete and utter chaos." Flynn finally sounds off on what I've just snarled at him in his calm and soothing British accent.

Holy shit he even sounds and lectures like Doctor Who too! He's right when I do tend to shut down after having a panic attack or night-terror. Usually, because they wanna touch me and after one the last thing I want is to be touched let alone hugged unless it's my Ana. My family depending on how severe it was but for the most part Ana.

"I didn't know them and they wanted to hug me! I don't do hugs after reliving hell. It's my way of protecting myself. It's not going to be all better. It never will. They can't bring them back! They can't bring my Momma and Grans back! It's even worse now because those memories that I locked away are starting to resurface! So no! I do not want a hug to make me feel better! Making me sleep only intensifies the nightmares! Watching and hearing another kid going through hell like I did as a baby was like pouring sulfuric acid into a healing wound! I'm raw again! Years of work with Doc Aiden obliterated! I'm back to square one! Back to having to grit my teeth and work through the phantom pain that sparks to life when someone touches me! The Night-terrors! The wide-awake memory flash terrors if someone says or does something to trigger them! My control is Gone!"

I'm up and pacing my room, pulling on my hair, as I let loose and vent. He wanted words! He asked for it!

"Why! Because the adults who are supposed to protect me all had a brain fart and chose to brush it off as me acting out! I have zero downtime as it is and now it's even less because I have to work out my issues with you! Whether I want to break in a new shrink or not, because I'm a kid! I have no say! No choice! It's the same with my schedule. It sucks being a kid already! It sucks that I can never forget anything! It sucks that because my intelligence is off the charts I need to kiss Summer vacation goodbye! It's not good for my mind to just shut off even for the summer! Do you think that I want to spend my afternoon studying!? Do you think that either me or any of my friends like to be treated like freaks with brains because we're smarter and that needs to be nurtured at all times so that we can learn and grow! Do you think that I wouldn't want to just have a fun summer!? It wouldn't matter even if I did because I'm nearly eleven and I have no say! No rights! I'm the child and I have to just fall in line to what my parents feel is best for me! Hell! By the time Ana, me, and the rest of the Scooby gang turn eighteen we'll be juniors when we attend University!"

"Christian, you do have a say. You do have rights. I know that it may not seem like it, but again communication is key. They can't read your minds. If you need a break a sabbatical for the summer then voice that to them. Just gritting your teeth and falling into line is not healthy for your mental well being. At this rate, you'll burn yourselves out before you reach sixteen. Off the charts intelligence or not the mind needs to pace itself or it fights back. You need downtime. Fun. Time with your friends. Campouts. Hikes. Swimming. Biking. Fishing. Sailing. All of that is imperative to your growth as a human being. Rhian and I will talk with both yours and Ana's parents and find a healthy solution to keeping you on the right path, but also allowing you plenty of time to relax and play. It's also vital to get you balanced again. Play will force you to have to touch and your mind won't act out nearly as much if it's doing something it enjoys. Play, fun, and laughter are truly wonderful ways of dealing with phobias in children. You need to wish to do the work and that's not going to happen until the pressure to please your parents is lessened." I wanna believe him really I do, but my mind is screaming that he's spewing bullshit just to get me to fall in line.

There is no way that my parents are going to let me skive off all the educational crap that they have planned for letting me be a kid. Mom has this mantra. Martial Art. Language. Musical instrument. I've got all three mastered already. I'm going for my master in karate next month. I speak fluently four different languages and I'm a virtuoso on virtually any instrument as once it's shown to me I can't ever forget it. Striving to learn and excel is ingrained in me. This new game plan of Flynn's might be more challenging than the university level courses! We've got Space Camp in August, but that's more work than fun if you want the truth.

I stop pacing and fall back onto my bed. Speechless. In shock. He's on my side. Is this a trick?

"Christian? How do you feel about everything that I've suggested for your therapy plan?" Flynn asks. Taken-aback because I'm not jumping up and down shouting with joy that freedom is within my grasp for the summer.

I blow out a breath and scrub at my face with my hands. "What's the use of getting my hopes up when there is no way that my parents are going to go along with your plan. My attempt at spontaneous fun backfired spectacularly. My parents lean towards ordered chaos. I mean, it's not like I don't get to do any of those activities, because I do. It's just meticulously put in a certain order. Seriously? My Dad is like the best Lawyer in the whole country and my mom is one of the best pediatric surgeons in the world! I mean, they thrive on order and set schedules! They are so not gonna go for your therapy plan. Mimi drives them nuts with her chaos and adding mine to the mix when I'm the only one who thrives on order, logic, and reason of their kids. Yeah, sorry, so don't see that happening. So, no I'm not partying over my impending freedom, because what you're suggesting is what they call a pipe dream. Never. Ever. Gonna. Happen. Thanks for offering to try though. I'd offer you a Jelly Baby or in your case a celery stalk, but sorry I'm fresh out. It was nice knowing you, Doctor." I roll over onto my stomach and bury my face in my pillow, signaling that I'm done. My mind now on figuring out a major I'm sorry for my mom. Maybe Ana will have some suggestions.

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A/N:The Character that he is referring to is much loved by the world. Doctor Who is a famous staring character, with many regenerations or incarnations each played by a different actor, in a BBC series titled Doctor Who. One of his famous catch phrases has to do with a particular candy called a Jelly Baby that the Fourth Doctor was fond of saying and the stalk of celery was an added decoration to the pocket of his jacket for the fifth incarnation.


	9. Chapter 9- It's the thought that counts?

Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 9- It's the thought that counts, right?

A/N: Here's part four where you'll see what happens when Ana tells Chris that he's crap at something...chaos ensues...

Thank you to everyone who has reviewed/faved/followed my stories

I love hearing your reaction to them!

All mistakes are mine...enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the original characters that are mine and the story idea. (I love to play with my favorite iconic characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Cannon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

* * *

Chris

Well, I got my wish. Everything that Flynn suggested my parents eagerly agreed with each and every suggestion and Uncle Marcus is my primary care doc now. They even got all the parents on board with giving us all a virtually free summer.

You would think that it would make me wanna party, but honestly, it makes me feel guilty as hell for telling off my parents and being miserable when all I needed to do was man up and speak my mind.

I'm working on that with the Doc. I feel the need to be the perfect son because I have abandonment issues that I didn't even know that I had. The touch thing, well, John has my family hugging me constantly whether I want them to or not. It's like every hour I get some kind of hug or friendly touch. I gotta write all of my nightmares and dreams into a dream journal. The memory flashes have their own journal and I have to document them too and then we discuss them. Neither are fun by any means because reliving hell is not fun!

Both me and Ana still can't do much except hang around our homes until her feet heal, my head heals, and my headaches go away when I do too much.

I can't even play any of my video-games so I'm bored out of my mind.

We've read all of our summer reading and finished our summer homework. Grandpa T gave me some light reading all about Mergers, Acquisitions, business, Foundations, and a bunch of other stuff because he knows my dream is to have my own company. Ana and I are using this new found knowledge to look into creating our own Animal rescue. Ana wants to call it Wild Rescue because she doesn't wanna exclude wildlife. It's still in the planning stages, as in we have to pitch it to our parents and grandparents because we're kids and this kinda thing is gonna take a lot of money which we ourselves don't have.

It also gives me endless time to figure out a way to show Mom how sorry I am for venting at her like I did. Both Mom and Dad are now families focused to the point that one or the other is home if the other has to work. If they can't juggle their schedules then I'm over at Steele Manor, either way, a loved one is never far from shouting distance.

"What's up with you, Chris?" Ana snaps me out of my brooding. "It's not forever and then we're gonna have so much fun!" She sets this mint green shake in front of me. "Drink up! Gran's minty goodness will make you so much better!"

I eagerly pick it up and down it. Her Grans are natural healers. All their medicine is natural and actually doesn't taste that bad. Can't tell ya what's in them as it's a family secret and all that, but they work.

"It's nothing, babydoll. I've just got a lot on my mind..." I set the empty glass down and she launches herself into my lap and gives me a hug.

"Not that again..." She shakes her head at me, rolls her eyes in exasperation, and curls up snuggling into my shoulder. "She's not mad at you, Chris..."

I settle my chin on top of her head and cuddle her close. "I'm mad at me for not trusting in my parents to actually listen...for being afraid...for a lot of things I said to her..."

"She knows that you didn't mean it...you were frustrated and they did mess up big time...by not cluing in that you were crying out for their help and not acting out...for being more focused on their jobs and obligations than on your needs." She looks up at me with her amazing blue eyes emploring me to listen to her words of wisdom.

"I told her that she wasn't my mom that she lied about my momma being alive...how do I make up for that...they're doing so much...rearranging their schedules...arranging fun activities and trips...making sure that I know that I'm loved...what can I possibly do to show her how sorry I am." I hate showing weakness. The tears burning in my eyes. My hoarse voice. I hardly ever cry, but it's all back again and the memory flashes of the fire and the aftermath has me all over the place emotion wise.

"What happened to give her a hug and say you're sorry and that you love her? Why do you think that's not enough that you have to go all out. She knows, Christian." Ana sits up and cups my face between her hands making us lock eyes and she rubs her nose against mine.

"I don't know, Anastasia...it's different now...we're not little kids who don't know better...words matter...words hurt...I hurt her and I have to find a way to make up for it..." I kiss her nose and she's back to cuddling on my shoulder again.

"Actions hurt too...putting you in that hospital room with Dexter without checking what his injuries were or bringing you home after you escaped the third time to hide...that's on her...that's on Papa C that's on the adults who are supposed to look out for your needs first, foremost, and always. That's a parents job and they messed up and now the boogieman is back making you miserable again...I...don't...even...know how...you're...sane..." Ana sniffles, big blue eyes pooling with tears.

"Ana...babydoll...don't...it was a long time ago..." I croon cuddling her close.

"The dreams of the fire all of it front and center in your mind again and you're not letting it get to you...other kids would be curled up, huddled under their blankets, and sucking their thumbs in catatonic terror. You aren't weak at all. You are the strongest person I know and you care so much for everyone and not enough about your own needs!" she sobbed against my shoulder and it's killing me that she's hurting because of my lapse of control over shielding my dreams from her.

"Hey, hey, you're killing me with the tears here, babydoll..." I rock her trying to get her to stop, but the dam has burst and she's gotta cry it out. "I'm so sorry...that you had to see that...my head was too messed up for me to block it from you...you were never supposed to see any of it, ever..."

"You can't block me out unless I want you too and I needed to see why you were hurting...I needed to see how to fight off the boogieman this time...I just didn't know all the details of the fire...I could have...never met you...!" She's clinging to me for dear life.

"I had Ella battle to keep me and Mimi from getting it worse than we did...who I'll probably never see again...sacrificed everything so that Mimi and I could be safe, loved, and happy. All I know is that she survived and gave us to Mom and Dad because she was too young to take care of us on her own. I fight off the boogieman and those memories for her." I kiss the top of her head.

"Nana say's that if it's meant then it's meant, so who knows maybe you'll meet her again. Barney and I tried to do a search for her just to see if we could and we came up with zip. Nothing. Like she's gone deep undercover or something. Do ya think she went on to be a spy or one of those FBI agents?" Ana looks up at me with wide curious eyes. Her tears forgotten.

"Yeah, babydoll...Ella's a female James Bond..." I smirk, kissing her nose, as I wipe her tears away with the pads of my thumbs.

"What if she's off on a mission to avenge what happened to her family? I'd be out for blood if that happened to me and I had to give up everyone that I loved like that!" She scrambles off my lap and goes back to the other side of the couch to focus on Operation Wild Rescue.

"Uh-huh, and I'm gonna be Master of the Corporate Universe someday..." I shake my head at her, amazed at her vivid imagination.

Ana looks up at me and grins. "Go big or go home!"

"Big..." My eyebrow pops up and an idea sparks to life in my head.

"NO!" Ana sits up, eyeing me with alarm.

"What?" I shoot her a look of wide-eyed innocence.

"Bad idea! Think of something else!" She narrows her eyes at me.

"It only happened that once..." I sulk.

"You tried to make cookies and they burnt so bad that the smoke triggered the fire alarm...so just no..." She growls.

"I got distracted...I forgot to set the timer..."

"You flipped pancakes and they got stuck on the ceiling."

"Lelliot egged me on that time..."

"There is no way that cooking Mama Grace breakfast is a good idea...write her something...compose her something on the piano..."

"Dad cooks her breakfast in bed when she's steamed at him and it usually works to show how sorry he is..."

"Chris..."

"I'll think about the song on the piano, but my heads not in the right frame of mind for that...it's too easy...this other shows that I put some effort into my apology. I've watched all of you cook loads of times and know what I did wrong..."

"A song...no a symphony is so much better...she'll have it forever...cooking something is there and then it's over..." Ana's rambling on, but my mind is made up.

"Fine, Ana...I'll gets right to writing Mom that masterpiece." I go back to reading my book and Ana's still muttering about crazy ideas and me burning down the kitchen this time.

Cooking mom breakfast how hard can it be?

* * *

It's Saturday the whole house is still asleep, so this is the perfect time for me to make Mom breakfast in bed. I've got all the bowls set out. All the stuff I need to make it is set in an orderly fashion along the kitchen island.

Eggs, butter, milk, flour, vanilla, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar, powdered sugar, oil, bacon, bread...check, check, and check.

I line a baking sheet with foil and set strips of bacon on it. Gail and Mom use the oven to make bacon and I figure that preheating the oven to 400 should work and in goes the bacon.

I've got Gail's cookbook out and follow for the most part how to make the pancake and french toast batter. It just took me a dozen or so eggs to get the hang of cracking them without getting any shells in the mixture. I should be able to manage to make scrambled or fried eggs shell free when I get to that step in my master plan.

I'm heating up the griddle just like I've seen done thousands of times and I've got a skillet heating up some oil for the fried eggs. Mom likes both scrambled and fried, so I'm doing both just to be safe. While that's going I carefully pour the pancakes onto the griddle and they look fairly round for my first try. Then I put the soaked bread on for the french toast.

I load up the toaster and set that next. Check my bacon. Looks good so far.

Flip my pancakes and the french toast. Nothing singed yet. A piece of cake. Ana was being paranoid.

The oil is starting to boil and smoke a little so I turn on the exhaust fan above the stove before I crack some eggs and they plop into the oil and the grease spits back at me.

"Shit!" It got me on the arm and hand so I go over to the sink to run some cool water on it.

It stings like a hell!

The toast pops up while I'm nursing my wounded arm and hand and it's smoking! Shit! Lelliot and his love for singed toast!

I race over to it and pluck them out and singe my fingers. I'm dancing around the kitchen blowing on them because shit that hurts! But I've felt worse than that...

 _CHRISTIAN!? YOU PROMISED!_

 _I've got this!_

She's got zero confidence in me! I grumble to myself just as the smoke alarm goes off and I whirl around to look at my chared pancakes and french toast...The oven is smoking too! Shit! This is bad!

 _I'M CALLING PAPA C!_

 _WHAT?! NO! GO BACK TO SLEEP! NOTHING IS ON FIRE! IT'S FINE!_

Just as I snarl that back at my pain in the ass little doubter, the rag that I was using as an oven mitt catches fire because when I went to rescue the pancakes it fell off my shoulder onto the stove! To make matters worse the oil catches fire next and flames shoot up hitting the exhaust fan!

My mind flashes into instant panic mode and I do the thing that you never do when it comes to a grease fire! I stupidly throw water on it!

The flames are getting worse and my mind flashes to when I was two and trapped with Mia with the flames all around us! Instinct has me bolting from it to the furthest corner of the kitchen and it's like I was back then I curl up in a tight ball and my mind just shuts down from the terror of seeing the flames and the noise of the alarms.

 _I'M COMING! DON'T ZONE OUT! CHRISTIAN!_

I barely register Dad racing into the kitchen screaming my name or him tossing me over his shoulder when he finds me. I stare blankly at Lelliot and Adam as they race past him to battle the flames. All I see is the fire. All I know is that I'm gonna be hurt again. My mind has hurled me back to hell on earth and I can't escape it. My mind goes back to that dark quiet safe place where not even Ana can reach me. I won't. No, I can't go through that again. The doctors. Surgeries. Treatments. Torture. Not again...darkness is safer.

* * *

"Christian..." I hear a familiar English voice. "Enough, hiding son. You aren't the first boy to accidentally set the kitchen on fire...You didn't get hurt. Hardly even a scratch...it's safe...you're at your grandparents orchard...the whole clan is here safe and sound...you're little shadow won't leave you unless it's to do the necessary and then she's cuddled back to you again...she's a little lioness...bit Adam and Elliot for trying to pry her from your side...It's been two days, Christian. You both need to eat...hiding is hurting not only you but your Ana...Time to wake up..."

Ana! Needs to eat! That alone snaps me out of it! Nothing and no one hurts my babydoll! Let alone me!

"Ana..." I whisper hoarsely, my voice rough and on fire from the smoke that I must have inhaled.

"CHIRS! MOM! DAD! HE'S AWAKE!" Mimi was curled on the other side of me and jumps off the bed running screaming from the room.

"Chris!" Ana is hugging the breath out of me. "You're back!"

"Can't...breathe..." I wheeze and that gets me coughing.

"Sorry!" She immediately lets me go and curls up next to me, but her hand is firmly holding my own.

"S'okay..." I smile weakly.

"You are a stubborn one, Christian." Doc Flynn shakes his head at me. "You forgot what I thought I'd drilled into that stubborn skull of yours. Fear not fire is your worst enemy. Fire can be extinguished easily with the proper methods. Fear feeds on itself until it consumes you..."

"I'm having a bad month!" I croak out.

"You need to pace yourself...that's your main problem, Christian. You want to do everything at one time. You want to conquer anything that dares defeat you and that's where you go wrong. It's human to fail. You will fail at things that's fact. Not everyone is good at everything if that were so then life would be boring with no bloody challenges to be had. We all make mistakes and will continue to falter and fail all of our lives. It's how we learn, through our failures..." Doc Flynn is pacing the bedroom as he goes on with his lecture.

"I wanted to show Mom that I was sorry..." I cough out. "By making her breakfast...wanted to prove to Ana that I could do it..."

"What?!" Ana sits up glaring at me. "I wasn't daring you to try and burn down your house! Of all the! I was dead serious! You can't cook! You are a disaster in the kitchen! You burn toast every time! You turned grilled cheese to cinders! You nearly set the oven on fire cooking cookies and they had to have those guys that come when there is smoke damage air out your house!"

"I'm sorry...I had a plan..."

"You are a virtuoso with music! What was wrong with writing Mama Grace a symphony of how much you love her and how sorry you are!? All being a stubborn dunderhead has done is nearly destroyed your mom's kitchen! Made your house unlivable until the smoke smell is cleared out! And made you go fricking catatonic for two bloody days! Scaring all of us out of our minds! And you did it just to spite me!? For someone with an IQ that is off the charts, you can be so..." She's pissed at me, but even though she's glaring daggers at me my hand is still firmly grasped in hers.

"I'll just let the two of you work things out..." Doc Flynn wisely takes his leave from the room.

"I promise to have supervision if I ever cook again..." I croak out hoarsely, shooting her my puppy dog eyed look complete with pout.

"You could have blown up your house! All that you had to do was call me and I would have helped you!" She grumbled darkly.

"Waking you before noon on a weekend is like trying to defuse a ticking time-bomb...Mom's always awake by 8..."

"Well, that and you broke your promise to me..." She hisses.

"I agreed to disagree..." I close my eyes and she pounces on me.

"Don't you dare! You've been out for two days!" She's gone from fury to all-out panic and she's curled up on top of me.

"I was just resting my eyes..." I wrap an arm around her and she bursts into tears.

"Christian! Thank god!" The rest of the family bursts into the room.

"I'm sorry..." I croak out when Dad plucks Ana from my arms so that Mom can take her place and hug the life out of me.

"That can all be fixed...it doesn't matter...all that matters is that you're awake..." She rocks me in her arms and I know that every things gonna be okay.


	10. Chapter 10-Rascal

Teddy and Family- Chris and Ana

Chapter 10- Rascal

A/N: Finally, I'm updating again! I can promise that while there is some drama it's nothing serious. Just trying Chris trying to stay sane while trying to figure out what's she up to now, and the fallout that ensues.

All mistakes are mine...enjoy!

Cin XOXO

Disclaimer: I own nothing other than the original characters that are mine and the story idea. (I love to play with my favorite iconic characters but with my AU spin on them. Sorry folks I don't do Canon ever. Like, Love it, Hate it…you have been warned ^^).

OoOo

Chris

Ana is acting weirder than normal and that's got me on red alert. She's keeping something major from me and so are the rest of the girls. Something that has to do with the female members of the Scooby Gang walking around like zombies.

Our first foundation _Wild Rescue_ is thriving thanks to a close friend of my Dad's who's taken us under her wing. Aunt Mackenzie 'Mac' Donavan is CEO of James-Walker Enterprises and Trust one of the most successful companies in the world. It's a Mergers and Acquisitions/philharmonic empire and I wanna be just like her someday! I'm gonna call it GEH short for Grey Enterprises Holdings and it's gonna have a publishing branch for Ana as that's her dream to own her own publishing company, because she loves books. It is my mission in life to make all my baby-doll's dreams and wishes come true, within reason of course. I mean I can't exactly buy here the moon and the stars, or if it puts her in danger, but you get the picture.

Whatever it is she's blocking me and that's never happened unless she's supremely pissed at me or she's hundreds of miles away. Though, even then we can, if we concentrate enough, use our link to communicate with each other.

I mean sure we kinda had a little battle about her trying to take Rascal, a baby orphaned raccoon, with her instead of having him stay at Wild Rescue where he can be taken care of by licensed professional wildlife rescuers. The little guy is so tiny, can't even see yet, and must be fed like a newborn baby, because that's what he is. She got all pissy at me, because the two of us rescued Peppy and her dad let her keep him. I had to remind her that Ray and Carla both put their foot down and told us that if it didn't bark then it had to go to where it could properly be taken care of. We're all allergic to cats, so he didn't think that we needed a reminder about them. TJ is also a major factor. The little monster gets into everything. Peppy is terrified of the little guy, because he tried to pull his tail off after trying to love him to death with hugs and kisses. Scout adores TJ to death, so he just takes it like a champ. He's his shadow and has been ever since TJ was born. He's TJ's. We get to share him. Elliot wanted to take him with him to his new condo, but Scout wasn't having it, so he's settling for visitation rights.

It wouldn't be easy for her to hide Rascal if that's what's up with her and the girls. They'd need help to look after him during the day while they were at school, because our school might be new age and open minded, but they kinda freaked out when Ana and I brought Peppy to show and tell when we were younger, so hauling around a baby coon would not go over well with the headmistress.

It's bad enough that I gently kick her seat in class to wake her up, before our teachers catch her napping in class. Like I'm doing right now. "Ana!" I hiss at her while our teacher is focused writing on the whiteboard and she turns to glare at me. She hates anyone kicking her chair. It drives her crazy.

"Cut it out, Christian." She snarls back, narrowing her, reddened sleep-deprived baby blues at me.

"No." I growl back, matching her glare. "You fell asleep in class again. What's going on?"

"Nothing…" She yawns hugely. "I'm fine. It's math. You know how much it bores me to tears…"

"Christian? Anastasia? Do you want to share something with the class?" Mr. Strong narrows his eyes at us and we both turn our focus towards the front of the class.

"No, sir…" We both answer at the same time, our faces flushing red at getting called out.

"Why don't the two of you come up and solve today's problems on the board and I want you to include every step in coming to the solution to each problem." Mr. Strong orders and we reluctantly head up to the white board to carry out our sentence for being caught talking in class.

 _Thanks a lot, Christian Alexander! Now he's gonna watch us like a hawk and this week is parentals and teacher conference days! I'm tired! TJ is going through his night owl crawl into bed with me phase! He can't stay still even while sleeping! You worry too much! I'm fine!_ Ana hisses in my head like an angry pissed off feline.

 _You're a walking zombie these days! Ya know what, brat! Fine! The next time you zonk out in class, I'll just let you get caught and have to take the walk of shame to the Headmistresses office! It's not like we even talk at all lately, since you've been blocking me out for no fucking reason! I worry! Because I care! I don't wanna see you get into trouble in class, that's on me! If you wanna shut me out and not give me a reason that's not cool Ana! I haven't done anything to deserve to be ignored and blocked out, but if that's the way you want it then two can play that game, Anastasia Rose!_ I snarl back and give her a taste of her own medicine.

"When the two of you are finished. I want Christian to switch desks with Mr. Sullivan for the remainder of this semester. This is a classroom, a place of learning. No matter if you're bored to tears or not. You will pay attention like the rest of your fellow classmates or face losing every Saturday spending detention here for a month. Do I make myself clear!?" Mr. Strong is beyond pissed today.

"Yes, sir…" we again echo our responses in unison and our faces are fire engine red, because this is mortifying, and everyone is staring and smirking at us.

Shit! Forgot to mention Mr. Strong is also vice principle, so yeah. Next time I'll let her take the heat for napping and mind my own business! Weekend boot-camp is so not my favorite and if we get weekend detention that's our fate or mine. The brat will place blame on me and blink those innocent baby blues that get her clear every time!

I finish way before she does, because math is my element and it doesn't matter what kind. I rock. Ana hates following the rules when doing problems, so it takes her a bit to finish them properly and he's got like sixteen on the board. Did I mention that we're in advanced high school level geometry? So, yeah, she's in hell right now.

I stalk back to my desk to get my stuff and change with Barney when I see her backpack move. What the hell?! It moves again! What the fuck!? I narrow my eyes at it, all thoughts on changing with Barney gone. What the hell does the brat have in there anyway?

"Chris?" Barney's standing beside me with his stuff and I'm still laser focused on the backpack that's now become inanimate again. "Snap out of it before he really gets pissed."

"Mr. Grey!" Mr. Strong snaps.

"What?" I shake my head, looking up at Barney and then at a very pissed off Mr. Strong. Shit! How long have I been staring at her backpack?!

"Staring at Miss Steele's belongings won't make me change my mind, in fact it's earned you a seat right in front of the class for the rest of the school year! I will also be having a nice chat with your parents this week! Switch with Mr. Allen now! Move!" He snarls at me pointing to Albert Allen's desk.

 _Well, fucking hell! Thanks a lot, Anastasia_! I glower at her, as I sling my pack over my shoulder and grab my stuff to head over to what's now in everyone's eyes, the desk of shame. _Now I'm in the shit, because your fucking Prada backpack moved like it was alive! You and I are gonna talk about what's hiding in there!_

 _Yeah, right, Christian. You just got caught sulking and he called you on it. There's nothing in my pack, but my books and school stuff!_ She hisses back but can't cover the hint of guilt and something like the start of her freaking before she blocks me out again.

"Since class seems to be boring you lately," Mr. Strong is being a hardass and wants to really make an example out of me. "I want you to begin working every problem in chapter 6 with full solutions. No short cuts and I want it finished and turned in on my desk first thing tomorrow morning."

The rest of the class are gaping at me with mouths open in complete shock at my sentence, seeing as we're on chapter 5. I just suck it up and take my seat. I don't wanna go for two chapters! Fuck! I have soccer practice tonight! No sleep for me! She owes me bigtime! "Yes, sir."

Ana drops the marker that she was using to write with on the board and I can just feel the guilt oozing off her, because it's clear that Mr. Strong has been paying attention and had reached the end of his patience with us.

"Do you wish the same fate, Miss Steele?" Mr. Strong walks over to growl at her for stopping her work.

"No, sir…" Ana squeaks and goes back to solving the problems. "My fingers slipped, and I lost my grip on the pen…"

"Don't think that I haven't seen you nod off while in class, young lady." He growls, eyes laser focused on her. "I'll be having a chat with your parents on that issue as well to see if we can find a solution as to why you've been lacking a good night's sleep as of late. However, to be fair to Mr. Grey. You will also have an extra assignment due on my desk before start of class tomorrow. The remainder of Chapter 5. Full solutions. No shortcuts. Do we have an understanding as well, Miss Steele?"

"Yes, sir, Mr. Strong…" Ana squeaks again, her tone contrite, face the color of a ripe tomato.

"Very well then, carry on with your work." He goes to sit back behind his desk and Ana turns back to the board.

I would feel guilty, but I don't. Nope. Not one bit. And I won't even offer to help her either. Not like I could with my own sentence to finish. I hope whatever she's up to this time is worth the hell she just sentenced herself to. I get to work tackling Chapter 6. Thankful that next class is study hall, I've already done all of Chapter 5, and this is the only homework I've got so far.

OoOoO

Finally, the bell rings, signaling the end of class and I don't even wait for Ana. I just shove my stuff back into my pack, sling it over my back, get up, and stalk out of the classroom with Barney and Ethan bolting right after me.

"Dude! That was cold!" Ethan catches up to me and slaps me hard on the shoulder.

"Holy shit, Chris!" Barney's on the other side of me and gives me his when will you never learn glare. "Next time let her get caught! It's not worth the public humiliation or the sentence!" He thinks I protect her too much. That she'll never learn. All the guys do.

"What the hell happened, Man?" Ethan frowns, as we stop off at our lockers.

"Yeah, you totally spaced out for like five minutes…" Barney echoes.

"Yeah, I was focused on Ana…" I shrug, not ready to tell all until I know what she's up to yet.

"I'm so fucking glad that I don't have that kinda link with Mia!" Ethan snorts, rolling his eyes.

"Was she bitching you out, because she finally got caught?" Barney frowns. He's good with all things weird. Ethan not so much.

"Yeah," I shrug. "Something's up and I called her on it. She got pissy."

"I know, right!" Ethan agrees, while shoving what he needs for the remainder of the day into his backpack. "Mia and Kate both aren't any better. They both got called out for zoning off during American History class this morning. Now they've got a paper due on the Civil war by Friday."

"Whatever it is, they don't wanna keep us in the loop." Barney slings his pack over his shoulder and slams his locker door. "Andrea and Claire fell asleep in English this morning. Now she's got to write an essay on the merits of getting a good night's sleep and the solution as to how to achieve it. No less than 50,000 words."

"The girls have dance tonight too, right?" I slam my locker shut. The warning bell rang. We're late for Study Hall, but it's not like they mark us tardy or anything. Mrs. Zan isn't a hardass, more like a hippie, so there's no rush as we head off to her classroom.

"We've got practice and a big match on Friday…" Barney shoots me a look. "Coach will have your hide if you lose focus."

"He's right, man." Ethan growls. "Whatever the girls are into now can wait until after Friday's match."

"The hell it can't!" I slam my pack onto my desk. "Her fricking backpack moved!" I hiss, trying to calm down.

"Say what now?" Ethan and Barney stare at me like I'm nuts.

"Are we having a not so sunshiny day there, Christian?" Mrs. Zan arches a brow from where she's watering the jungle in her classroom. She's also the botany teacher, so like I said Hippie. She's so mellow that it's almost a sure bet that she has some secret happy plants growing in her greenhouse at home. No one is this mellow or happy all the time. It's just not the natural order of things. "Trouble with your other half?"

I flush crimson when the rest of the class shoots me knowing looks and starts snickering and giggling over it. She's also very in tune with the Force, if you know what I mean, and into anything and everything weird. Again, new age hippie. We always have a teacher like that every year, only we're stuck with Mrs. Zan until we graduate Middle School. Then we get her sister Mrs. Potts when we start High School and she's head of the science department at Seattle Prep. To be honest we can't wait, as she's known to make learning fun just like her big sister Mrs. Zan. "Sorry, Mrs. Z. Just having one of those mornings." I slump down into my seat and then bury my head in my arms until my face stops burning with mortification.

"Well, don't let it bother you. Things will work themselves out. No need to take it out on the furniture." She nods, then goes back to watering her plants. Study Hall is in the botany classroom and the back of it leads to a massive greenhouse, but it still has a working classroom full of desks for practical work.

"Yeah, sorry…" I mutter again.

The desks are lined up against each other, so I've got Barney on one side and Ethan on the other both glaring at me waiting for me to elaborate on what I just snarled at them.

"How the hell did Ana's backpack move by itself?" Ethan gets out his History homework.

"Yeah, maybe you bumped her desk." Barney offers a solution to what I saw. "You were beyond pissed."

"I don't mean that it swung like I bumped it." I raise my head to glare at him. "Something wriggled inside it!"

"Wriggled?" The guys are still giving me that you've lost your mind look of disbelief.

"I'm not losing it! I know what I saw…" I grumble, as I get out my math homework.

"She wouldn't risk that not after what happened last time with Peppy…" The guys frown.

"It wasn't Peppy. He would have easily gotten free of it and she had the top part half unzipped like she was letting whatever is in there get fresh air." I'm trying to piece together all the clues, as to what she's hiding.

"Then I got nothin…" Ethan shrugs.

"Yeah, me too…" Barney turns his focus on revising his English Composition assignment that's due after lunch.

Then it hits me and it's taking everything in me not to bolt from this Classroom, find Ana, and see if I'm right. "Rascal…they're taking care of Rascal…."

"The baby coon that the two of you found?" Barney is now laser focused on me again.

"That was weeks ago, yeah?" Ethan is staring at me like this is bad man.

"Yeah, it was. She was beyond pissed that she had to leave him at the Wild Rescue center…" I nod, still trying to let it sink in that she's been harboring an orphan racoon for weeks and I didn't even have a clue about it.

"So, the girls are all taking turns taking care of him and that's why they're all so sleep deprived…" Barney surmises, as he works the problem like I am. "He would need to be fed and tended to around the clock."

"The reason why he had to stay there is because he was only a few weeks old and couldn't even see yet. We had no clue how to take care of him and they were experts at it. Well, that and Ray and Carla both put their foot down and told her that if it didn't bark then it had to go to where it could properly be taken care of and even then, no new pets until TJ was four. I knew better not to ask, but Ana got attached to the little guy." I resist the urge pull my hair out and or pound my head against my desk in frustration.

"They'd have to have more help than that to look after him." Ethan is more interested in seeing who Ana compelled to do her bidding this time or what she's using to blackmail them into turning a blind eye or helping with her latest venture.

"Elliot is buried in work, getting his company up and running. Aunt Mac has his crews working on all her ongoing projects. I can't see him tending after an infant raccoon that needs to be drip fed every hour on the hour. The rest of the big brothers are all off on black ops missions, so they're out. Ros is so busy with shadowing Aunt Mac that she doesn't even have time for Gwen. Gwen is busy with the designing branch of Grey Construction, but she does have a soft spot for all things cute and furry, so she would gladly juggle tending to Rascal between clients and working on blueprints and designs. Sam is at Quantico. Your parents are allergic to anything with fur, so how Kate hasn't gotten caught yet boggles the mind. Ana's parents have their hands full juggling Steele Shipping and chasing after TJ who is into his terrible two phase before he's even turned a year and a half. Add Ana and they're lucky that they're still sane. Jason and Gail are a sucker for her crusades and today is the day that she goes and does all of the errands that and Jason is off with Ray and Carla in Portland. Neither of them would be able to watch him. Mom's crazy busy at the hospital, because of all the renovations causing chaos there. Dad's pulling his hair out over this new case that he's working on. Mia could smuggle in a lion cub and they'd nod and think it's a plushy. Though, I gotta give them credit that one of them is always home when we get home from school. Mia more than likely told them that Rascal was some new toy that runs on batteries that she had to have, and they bought it. They spoil her rotten. She takes full advantage and it's gonna bite them in the ass one of these days. I understand why our parents delegate, because they're both crazy busy saving lives and making sure justice is being served. Mia wants what she wants now and doesn't like to take no for an answer." I say, while trying not to pull my hair bald.

"Andrea and Claire's parents aren't any better, so the girls could easily sneak Rascal in and out without getting caught." Barney shrugged. "Paul and Jose both have as much going as we do so they're out."

.

"Raccoons are wicked crazy smart and you're saying that Rascal was moving around?" Ethan chooses to go where my mind refuses to the worst-case scenario. Rascal running loose around campus. He's so tiny. He'd be impossible to catch, let alone find.

"He's not quite there yet, but soon she won't be able to keep him hidden away for very much longer. He'll need his own habitat or will get into everything." Barney sees that I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown at eleven and tries to give me some piece of mind.

"I'm screwed! I'll be sent off Military School! Never see daylight again! Shit! Weekend Bootcamp hell to extreme is in my future that's if Jason's in the dark too! No one is gonna believe that I knew nothing when this shitstorm breaks! Dad is gonna flay me alive and Ray!? I'll have to flee to a nonextradition country to escape his wrath! Elliot's not gonna take the heat for it! It'll be every bloody person for themselves, leaving all eyes on me! Why's that?! Because she and I share this goddamned fucking link that's why!" I bang my head against my desk just thinking about my impending doom.

"Christian Alexander Grey! Language, young man!" Mrs. Z slams her watering can down and gives me the stink eye.

Well, shit! Now I've gone and pissed off the happiest teacher on the planet! "Sorry, Mrs. Z." I shoot her my best puppy dog sorry look.

"It's clear that working on your studies isn't helping your attitude today, only making it more volatile. Go busy yourself watering the Greenhouse until the end of class. That goes for all three of you. This is Study Hall not a chatroom." She orders the three of us to our penance.

"Yes, ma'am." We whimper and head off like three whipped puppies having gotten caught shredding some priceless heirloom rug.

Being banished to the greenhouse while wearing team hoodies is like being sentenced to swelter in a tropical rainforest and sweat to death. So, on top of everything else. The three of us are gonna stink like hell, no amount of deodorant can withstand that much heat and humidity, until we can hit the showers after Gym class! Thanks, a lot ladies! Pay back will be swift and sweet that I can promise you!

I don't know what comes over me. Maybe it's the fact that the guys are now beyond pissed at being sent to purgatory with me or maybe it's because she left me out of the loop on her latest caper, but I lose it. I snap. It's just too much for my brain to handle, so I turn on my heel so fast that my Kicks make this god-awful noise on the slippery tile floor and proceed to tell off the happiest teacher on the planet, much to my best friends' horror and the rest of our peers' amusement.

"That's right! Sentence me to frigging purgatory greenhouse hell, while Anastasia Rose gets away with anything and everything! Banish me for losing my mind, because she may or may not be carrying around something alive in her Prada Backpack and I'm freaking out about it! Yes, I fucking swore! I saw something moving around in her backpack during Geometry, reacted about it, and got sentenced to complete all the fricking problems in Chapter 6 by first thing in class tomorrow! That's after I woke up Ana after she fell asleep in his class again! She got pissy about it, which started all of this to begin with! I am sorry, but I'm eleven and it's not fair to take the heat every time she thinks up one of her crazy hairbrained schemes! No one ever believes that I'm just as clueless as the rest of them and being older I should have known what she was up to! Well, I don't! She's a sneaky brat when she wants to be and knows that I won't go along with her plan, so I'm sorry but I'm on the verge of a fricking migraine from hell!" I'm pacing the back of the classroom pulling at my hair in extreme frustration, losing it, and my pals bolted for the Greenhouse! Fucking traitors!

Mrs. Z blinks a few times at me, before making a beeline for me, and envelops me into her arms for a hug. Because hugs cure everything in her eyes. She's a champion hugger. "Feel better now, Chris? Did venting get it all out of your system? Ana's a free spirit and wishes to save the world. You both do. While you choose to let the experts care for those that your wonderful foundation takes in, she gets attached and wants to be hands on in nurturing them. You must be patient with her, but I do see why you've chosen to come unglued over it. She's yours to protect and you can't protect her from something that she's been hiding from you. So, you're hurt. That's understandable but getting this upset about it isn't going to help matters either. Now, go join the rest of the three musketeers and try and focus on clearing your mind of all this negativity. Plants can comfort you as you nurture them and relieve stress and anxiety." She let's me go and proceeds to give me a gentle reprimand before sending me off to tend to her babies. The cure all for all things stress.

OoOoO

"Not cool, dude!" Ethan sprays water at me, hitting me dead center in the chest.

"She lied to me, alright! I asked her what was up and she lied to me and I'm pissed! She's been freezing me out for weeks making me think that I did something wrong! That's what's not cool, Dude!" I snarl, as I grab a hose and spray him back.

"Cool it! Both of you! It's bad enough that Chris freaked out, but if you two start a water fight in the Greenhouse, you'll both be in detention this weekend and grounded by your parents! Or worse you'll be suspended for horseplay! Off the team and ruin it for everyone! Focus on working the problem! We need to find a way where she gets to keep Rascal or freezing you out will be the least of your problems. She'll be sulking until we enter high school and so will the rest of our girls, so focus!" Barney, usually the calm mellow one of our trio, just handed us both our asses.

"Well, shit, thanks a lot for ruining the rest of middle school for us, Pal." Ethan snarks, as he focuses on trying to water and not drown his section of this massive rain-forest. It's an atrium more than a greenhouse. Mrs. Z's Zen garden. She's like JK Rowling's _Professor Sprout_ and _Professor Trelawny_ combined.

Barney's words hit home and I'm barely holding off the colossal migraine that always comes when I lose it like I just did a few minutes ago in study hall. I slump down onto one of the benches and grab hold of my head in agony. I couldn't survive a two year freeze out from my Babydoll. I'd go out of my mind like I am after just a few weeks! She's my best friend! The nightmares will come back with a vengeance as they have been all month! I'll be in living hell without my Shadow!

"Shit! Chris! You okay?!" Ethan goes from pissed to alarmed when I stumble to the nearest trash can and throw up spectacularly into it.

"My head is coming off…" I groan, in agony. Holding my head. Bach is playing soothingly from the speakers and it sounds full volume in my head. My eyes are crazy sensitive, and all I wanna do is die, because this is a bad one. I need my medicine, but that's in the nurse's office all the way across campus.

"Does he look okay to you!?" Barney helps me get make it over to the bench again. "Did your temper trigger one of your migraines?"

I want to nod, but just moving my head is agony, so I just groan.

"His meds are in the nurse's office." Ethan helps pulls me up to my feet and slings my arm across his shoulders and Barney mirrors him. We make our way out of the Greenhouse and back into the main classroom.

"Boys!? What happened?" Mrs. Z shouts out in alarm and I wince as the noise from her and the rest of the class sounds like the entire percussion section.

"He needs to go to see the nurse." Ethan helps me sit down at my desk, while Barney packs my stuff away into my backpack. Knowing that I'm done for the day and the nurse will be calling Mom to come pick me up from school.

"His meltdown triggered one of his migraines." Barney explains, slinging my backpack on one shoulder.

"Oh, dear…" Mrs. Z goes over to her desk and makes a call to the nurse's office informing her that the three of us are headed in her direction and the reason why one of us needs to be seen to. She quickly writes us all hall passes and ushers us out the door. "Feel better soon, Chris. Have your mother brew you some chamomile tea it should help you with some of your symptoms. Add a little green tea and peppermint too…"

I nod weakly as we slowly walk down the hallway and she closes the classroom door behind us.

"Christian!?" Ana races down the hallway towards us. "I'm so sorry! I just wanted one of us to be able to have plausible deniability! I couldn't leave him there! He was so tiny! Gail usually watches him or Gwen if she can't! Both of them couldn't so…"

"Wallow in guilt later! He needs his meds!" Barney growls at her, cutting her off.

"We would have helped you know," Ethan glowers at her as we gingerly continue down the hallway.

I open one pained eye to look at her. "I can't do damage control or help unless I know what I'm up against. You didn't trust me. Me Anastasia." I growl hoarsely, hurt echoing in my tone. "You lied to me. Ana. That's not okay. Ever…" I bolt for the nearest trash can again, dragging the guys along with me. Gross I know, but in truth they are the only thing keeping me standing right now.

Ana's nearly bawling at this point, but I'm too miserable to care. "I was gonna show you him after school. Elliot finished making his condo last night and was bringing it to the house this afternoon. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings, but you would have made me take him back to the center…" She sniffles.

"Until he was big enough to care for, maybe…" I croak out. "But I would have had our parents on our side by now and you would have been able to maybe keep him like we did Peppy…" It's then that I notice that her backpack is set in front of her instead of in the back and that Rascal's tiny head is peeping out of it at the three of us.

"I'm sorry..." She sobs.

"No wonder the girls melted." Ethan groans.

"He is adorable, alright." Barney sighs. "That little guy is like Kryptonite for all things female. They didn't stand a chance."

"I'll take him home with me…" I resign myself to my fate. Rascal is here to stay and I just have to figure out how to get the parentals to fall in line. "Mom will be focused on treating my migraine and getting me home. She won't bat an eyelash that I'm carrying Ana's backpack with me."

"Chris, you can't watch him while battling off your headache. Your meds knock you out. I'll have to fake a stomach ache or something, so that I can come home with you too." Ana tucks Rascal back inside and we're off once again gingerly headed for the nurse's office.

"Ana…"

"Mrs. Beale already thinks that I don't feel good, because I told her that my stomach was hurting that I needed to run to the bathroom. If I haven't come back yet, then she's more than likely called ahead to the nurse's office that I've got a stomach bug." Ana continues, and we just let her, because it's easier that way. "And I am feeling the backlash of your temper and migraine, so it's not that much of a stretch to pull off."

"Ana…" I growl.

"Well, it's…."

"Please, stop before my head blows off…" I'm close to begging at this point. Her guilt is coming off her in waves and I just can't deal with it and this migraine too.

"Sorry…." She sniffles, bursting into tears again, because truthfully when one of us hurts like this the other feels the backlash from it. Sort of like an echo, not as severe but it's there and it's not pleasant.

"Babydoll, you're killing me with the tears. You're sorry. I get it. Just please stop with the waterworks…" We've nearly reached Nurse Anders office when I stumble over and dry heave into another trashcan again.

"Oh cripes!" Ana turns a sickly shade of green and bolts inside the nurse's office.

"Oh, dear, have we caught ourselves a stomach bug, Miss Steele?" Nurse Anders croons, as the guys help me inside. "And Mr. Grey's suffering from a severe Migraine as well?" She motions for the guys to help me lay down on one of the other recovery couches. Ana's laying in the other one and she looks miserable. "I'll take it from here, boys. Back to class with you."

"Feel better, guys." Ethan and Barney wish us well and then head back to Study hall.

Nurse Anders takes our vitals, shaking her head when mine are slightly higher than they should be. She gives me my meds and I down them with a glass of water. Ana isn't spiking a temp like I am, but she doesn't want to take any chances, so she heads to her files to phone her parents. My bet is my mom is already breaking speeding laws to come get me. Good thing she's a Top pediatric surgeon and has a special license plate allowing her to speed within reason. I hope she didn't just rush out on any of her patients or from the operating theater, but if one of her cubs is sick then we're priority nothing and no one else matters. Dad's the same way unless he's in court, which he is today. They both get the call, but he'll know that Mom's got it handled and then head for home to check on me the second that he leaves the court house.

"Um, Nurse Anders? My parents are in Portland today…" Ana whimpers from her recovery couch. "Aunt Gail has a doctor's appointment, so she won't be home either…"

"Oh, dear…" Nurse Anders frets.

"She can come home with me…" I croak hoarsely.

"Christian!" Mom races through the doors making a beeline for me. "Sweetie, tell mommy where it hurts." She croons, bending down to kiss my brow. "You're spiking a fever…"

Before Nurse Anders can say a word, Mia comes in looking nearly as bad as the both of us do. Twin links are a bitch and she's suffering from the backlash of it just like Ana is because of our link. "I don't feel good…" she whimpers and bolts for you guest it the nearest trash can.

Ana's can't take it if someone throws up around her and bolts for the bathroom in the nurse's office.

"All three of you?" Grace is beside herself with worry at this point and I don't really want a to go to the hospital. All I want is bed, darkness, and quiet. Not getting my blood taken, a CAT scan, and whatever else she'll put me through just to be safe.

She whips out her Blackberry and speed dials Dad. This has just gone from bad to worse! How are we gonna hide Rascal if we're being tested within an inch of our lives at Seattle Grace!?

"Mom!" I try to sit up, but the room is spinning, and I feel sick again, so I lay my head back down. "It's just the backlash from my migraine. No one is dying of some weird virus!" I try to get her attention, but it's pointless seeing as my voice is so hoarse from puking that you can barely hear me.

"Cary? Ana, Chris, and Mia are sick…" She's a doctor and usually calm in any situation like this, but we're her babies so that training goes out the window.

Dad's trying to talk her down, but she gets frazzled when one of us are down. All three and it's mass hysteria. I'm wondering if she's even able to drive us home. I guess not, because I can hear dad tell her that he's already in the car and minutes from our school. Guess he got out of court early. Hope he won. It'll make it easier to con them into letting us keep Rascal. Then again we're sick and they wouldn't want my headache getting any worse…yeah, that might just work. I know, I know, but I'm desperate here.

I sit up to eye Ana's backpack, but it's not moving. Rascal must be a sleep or curled up in a tiny ball shivering in terror.

Mia's feeling a little better, because my meds are starting to kick in, so spying the backpack in question, carefully scoops it up into her arms. "I wanna go home…" she whimpers, bringing on the waterworks.

"I know, baby. Christian is going to ride with your father and take a quick trip to see Marcus at the hospital. I'm going to take you and Ana and get you both tucked in after some medicine to soothe your tummies." Mom's off the phone with Dad and back to nurture and soothe mode.

"Mom…I took my meds…I'll be fine…" I whine, miserable enough as it is and not looking forward to my visit to the hospital.

"Just to be safe," Mom croons and I know that I have no choice. "Humor, Mommy. Please, baby boy."

"Yeah, yeah, fine." I close my eyes and wait for Dad to show up any time now. I hate hospitals!

"My head hurts too…" Ana's guilt has her falling onto the sword. If I have to go through tests, then so will she. Mia's got Rascal, so now I'm her focus.

"Oh, sweetie, are you getting a migraine too," Mom now isn't sure of her strategy, because a ten and eleven-year-old with a severe headache is more than enough to warrant caution.

"It's so bright and my head really hurts…" Ana sniffles, coming over to curl up with me, and now I'm starting to burn through my meds, because Ana never ever gets headaches like I do. The backlash from them, yeah. The actual headache itself never and suddenly I'm all for the two of us going to the hospital to get checked out.

Dad walks in, takes in the situation, and comes up with a change of plan. "Gracie you take Ana and Christian in to get checked out, while I take Mia home and get her tucked into bed for the afternoon. I know what medicine to give her to get her feeling better again. Gail should be back by now and can help me if I need it."

"I don't think there's cause to worry, but I just want to make sure…" Mom bites down worriedly on her lip.

"It's better to err on the side of caution…" He gives her a reassuring hug and kiss on the forehead before walking over to see about me. "Hey, there pal. Sit tight. I'll be right back for you after I get Ana settled in your Mom's car." He gently brushes a hand through my hair, before scooping Ana up into his arms.

I nod and keep my eyes closed.

"I can follow you, Daddy." Mia sniffles. "I've got Chris's and Ana's stuff too…" She chatters as they leave.

Mom's sitting next to me, soothingly stroking my head, and it feels like heaven. "We'll only put you through tests if Marcus thinks its warranted. Ana on the other hand is suffering from her first migraine and we just want to be safe about it." She croons soothingly.

Dad's back and easily scoops me up into his arms like I'm still little and weight nothing and brushes a kiss across my forehead like he does when I'm sick. "Up you go, champ. The sooner we get you checked out. The sooner you can sleep off your headache in your bed."

"Feel better, Mr. Grey." Nurse Anders croons.

Mom's on the phone again, as we head out of the office, talking to Carla and assuring her that she's got everything under control and just wants to be safe.

OooO

After endless tests, because my headache hit me without warning, and Ana's never had one like this, Uncle Marcus concludes that mine was brought on by stress and Ana's besides the backlash was caused from lack of sleep and exhaustion. In layman's terms they both think we've been hitting the books too hard, are extracurriculars may or may not be causing us undo stress, and we both just need to slow it down and chill for a while. Both are ordered to rest for the rest of the week and I may or may not get the green light to play soccer on Friday. The guys are gonna kill me if I'm benched, but they didn't have to go through a battery of tests including getting my blood drawn, so they'll just have to deal.

We get home and Gail's home too and reassures Grace and Carrick that all they need to do is focus on us while she takes care of everything that needs done I catch her giving Ana a wink and take that as a sign that Rascal's also being taken care of. We each get a hug and kiss on the head and both of us get tucked into bed in nice quiet, dark, bedrooms for the remainder of the afternoon.

I wake up to Elliot sitting down on the floor of my bedroom working on his laptop. "Hey, El…" I croak hoarsely, my throats so dry that it hurts.

"Hey, little bro." El sits his laptop to the side goes into the bathroom to get me a glass of water. "Heard you had a hell of a day today." He helps me sit up and piles my pillows up behind me, before handing me the glass.

"Yeah, but my heads not coming off my shoulders anymore…" I gratefully down the water and then hand the glass back to him. "So that's always a good sign that this one isn't gonna stick around for days…" I settle back down into the soft comfort of my pillows.

"So, what brought it on and don't tell me that it was stress from school. That's BS. School never stresses you out." He arches a brow, folds his arms across his chest, and waits for me to crack.

I roll my eyes and tell him everything that he wants to know, because I'm exhausted, and he'd hound me until I caved.

He blows out a breath and nods in complete understanding. "In her defense, Chris, her heart was in the right place…"

"You have to take her side, because you're helping her. She lied to me and then froze me out for nearly a month to keep me from finding out what she was up to. I never said that I wasn't going to help her convince her parents to let her keep him. I just said that he needed more care than we knew how to give him and that was what Wild Rescue was created for to take care of orphaned and injured animals. She didn't trust me and that hurts, ya know. I've been worried out of my mind, because she's been falling asleep in class a lot, and looked like something was really wrong. She let me worry needlessly and that's not right." I grumble still not ready to completely forgive her now or anytime soon.

"Cool it, baby bro, or your head will start pounding again…" Elliot tries to get me to calm down and I force myself to close my eyes and relax.

"Now, as for Rascal, Ray's been in the know ever since he caught Jason drip feeding him in his security office at Steele Shipping. Hell, everyone there has fallen for the little shit. Carla didn't stand a chance once the little guy looked in her direction. They've been taking turns every night with him, as soon as Ana zones out on her bed. Well, when it's her turn with him. Mr. K caught Kate with him a few weeks ago and has had Connors minding him at night when it's her turn. All the parents are in the know. Dad and Mom know all about it too and were just waiting for one of them to finally surrender, but until today none of them have. Mia took point, as soon as she saw that Ana was down for the count for a while. Dad got her tucked in and then to her shock opened Ana's backpack, scooped up the little guy in his blanket, and left her to get some rest. I got the call from Dad to bring over his new digs and that the three of you were not feeling all that great, so here I am on little brother watch." Elliot grins at me, because I'm floored by everything that he's just told me. "The parents always know all. Learn it. Memorize it. Know it. Nothing gets by them for long, ever. I'll got tell them that you're awake. Love ya, kiddo. Next time don't brood about it just ask." That said he kisses the top of my head, walks over to pick up his laptop, and heads out of my room.

Not even a minute later and Ana sneaks in to cuddle up with me with Rascal cuddled in her arms in one of TJ's baby blankets. And just like that I forgive her, and all is right in my world again.

OoOoO

A/N: _Professor Sprout_ who teaches herbology and _Professor Trelawny_ a teacher of divination both are characters in JK Rowling's Harry Potter Series.

I know long time no update, but it's been hell in the real world for me. So, I've mostly been reading a lot until my sleeping muses decided to awaken again. I hope that you enjoyed Chris trying to survive Ana's latest antics and them now you know a little about how they got to keep Rascal the raccoon.

Until Next time and their next adventure

xoxox

Cin


End file.
